Excalibur Alternative
by shanejayell
Summary: Pete Wisdom finds old and new allies in reforming Excalibur! Final Chapter up!
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from this fan-fiction, they all belong to Marvel Comics. Please don't try to sue me, you won't get anything out of it. Also, this loosely ties in with my fic, the Adventures of Shadowcat and Rogue, but reading that fic is not necessary.  
  
X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part One  
  
Pete Wisdom watched the Midnight Runner rise straight up then the jet soared up and away from Muir Isle, carrying Kitty Pryde and her team of X- Men back to their home to Australia. 'Sort of wish I'd told her,' he admitted to himself, crushing a cigarette out under his shoe.  
  
Pete smiled to himself wryly, wondering how he had managed to get himself into this odd position, anyway. 'Oh, yeah,' Pete thought, his black suit clinging to him a bit in the damp mist, 'because Professor Xavier asked me to...'  
  
It was a few weeks ago, in the Xavier institute based in New York state. Professor Charles Xavier strode down the hallway and quickly opened his office door, only to freeze there. He recovered in only a moment, then he stepped inside.  
  
"Mr. Wisdom," Xavier nodded to the black haired man who was sitting comfortably in one of his guest chairs.  
  
Pete watched him curiously, this bald headed, almost scholarly looking man who lead one of the most powerful organizations of mutants on the planet. It was easy to underestimate him, Pete noted, but appearances could be deceiving. This was a man who had stared death in the face many times, and had never even blinked.  
  
"You contacted Allistaire Stuart, said that you wanted to see me?" Pete asked him calmly, trying to read the man's face. He wasn't having much luck.  
  
"Indeed," Prof. Xavier nodded, as he sat down behind his desk. He sounded a bit amused as he looked at Pete thoughtfully, "Normally, visitors come in using the front door."  
  
"With my background, I figured it'd be best to go in covert," Pete shrugged.  
  
"How did you get in here, anyway?" Xavier finally had to ask him.  
  
"You guys did a pretty good job sealing off the passages that ran between the mansion and the old Morlock Tunnels," Pete noted, "but you didn't get all of them." He looked down at his suit with a slight frown, "Ruined a good overcoat, though."  
  
Xavier nodded thoughtfully, making a note. "I wanted to see you," Xavier said, "because of the situation in Europe and Britain. Without a team stationed there, I'm concerned that things could continue to worsen."  
  
"So you want me to be a member of this team?" Pete asked him, already considering how to balance his espionage work with team membership.  
  
"No, I want you to lead it," Xavier answered calmly.  
  
Pete looked at him in honest surprise, then he barked in laughter. "Oh, no," he muttered, "you've got the wrong guy."  
  
"Nightcrawler thinks quite highly of you," Xavier started.  
  
"Kurt Wagner always was a charitable guy," Pete muttered.  
  
Xavier ignored that and continued on, "And Kitty has said that you are one of the most capable men she had met."  
  
Pete raised his eyebrow, "You must have caught her in a good mood."  
  
Xavier smiled wryly as he added, "She didn't have much nice to say about you personally, but she respects your skills."  
  
Pete grinned, "That's the Pryde I know."  
  
"Sam Guthrie made some good points, too," Xavier noted. He looked across at Pete calmly, "When you were working with X-Force, you made a pretty good leader." He smiled slightly, "Sam just let you think you were only being an advisor."  
  
Pete shook his head ruefully, "That sneaky..."  
  
"There are things going on in Europe and the United Kingdom that I don't like the looks of," Xavier said to him quietly, "but it's all covert, shadow games. Something that I don't have much experience dealing with. You, on the other hand, do."  
  
"Allistaire and the spooks in the Weird Happenings Organization have been noticing that, too," Pete murmured.  
  
"What?" Xavier blinked.  
  
"No, WHO," Pete grinned.  
  
Xavier gave a low groan at that old joke, "What I meant was that I thought they were called the Directorate, now."  
  
"Allistaire decided to change the name back," Pete answered him thoughtfully. He looked at Xavier and said, "If I do this, no spandex. All right?"  
  
"It will be your show," Xavier answered him serenely. He pulled out a set of files and passed them over, "Here are some possible members who are based in the UK currently. But you're welcome to recruit whomever you wish."  
  
"Good," Pete noted the name on one of the files and said, "I've worked with Rahne before, she'd be an effective teammate." He looked at another file, "I haven't met Moonstar, but I hear the two of them come as a set."  
  
Pete reviewed the files thoughtfully, until he finally looked up to meet Xavier's smiling gaze. And he realized that he'd been hooked. There'd still be some debate between them. Pete would argue a bit, discuss what was going to happen. But he had to admit that it was pretty much been decided. He knew that he was going to lead this new team of Xavier's.  
  
They talked for awhile, Pete collecting the files on a disc to look through later more carefully. "What would you like to call this group?" Xavier finally asked him as Pete was getting ready to go.  
  
"Let's just keep it as simple as possible," Pete smiled, thinking of his old teammates as he said, "let's just call it Excalibur."  
  
"Excalibur it is," Xavier got up to shake Pete's hand before adding, "Good luck."  
  
Pete shrugged, "I'll probably need it."  
  
'Yep,' Pete thought as he finally reached his apartment building in London after leaving Muir Isle, 'I'll need all the luck I can get.' He went upstairs, unlocking the door casually, then he stopped cold. 'Someone's in there,' he thought grimly.  
  
Pete went in fast, the thermal energy emissions he called 'hot knives' glowing around his hands. "Don't move," he barked, blinking in surprise at the silvery metallic woman standing there, looking like a statue made out of circuitry.  
  
"Hello Pete, it's been a while," the woman turned to him and smiled, her face looking awfully familiar somehow. The oddest thing about her was the hole that was in her middle, where circles of rainbow light shone outward.  
  
"I don't think we've met," Pete said cautiously, keeping the hot knives ready to fire at her.  
  
"My code-name is Widget," and the metal woman smiled at him suddenly, "but my name is Kate Pryde." She paused thoughtfully, "And the very first time I met you in this form was, to me, about ten years from now."  
  
Pete looked at her, this being who was supposed to be an older incarnation of Katherine Pryde, with his mouth open for a few moments then he began to curse softly. He flopped down in a seat and muttered, "I hate time travel."  
  
"You're taking this well," Kate noted calmly.  
  
"I've had some experience with it," Pete sighed, "and I did read the file that Excalibur had on Widget." He looked over at her thoughtfully and asked, "I thought that the last body you had was made up of pure energy?"  
  
"I absorbed some wrecked Sentinel parts, created this body," Kate shrugged. She looked at him thoughtfully, "Speaking of Excalibur..."  
  
"Yes?" Pete asked cautiously.  
  
"I'd like to join," Kate said seriously.  
  
Pete looked at her shrewdly, "Why would you want to?"  
  
Kate hesitated for a moment, then she said quietly, "To protect the woman I love, who is also going to be in Excalibur." Before Pete could ask she added, "Rachel Summers."  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Chapter Two

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Two  
  
The darkness of the alley was suddely lit up in a burst of rainbow light, then a man in a black suit was dumped unceremoniously to the pavement from a glowing portal. A silvery skinned figure appeared next and gracefully dropped down beside him, then the portal snapped shut.  
  
"Are you all right?" Kate Pryde bent over to ask him, speaking with a certain amount of amusement in her voice.  
  
"Oh, I'm fine," Pete Wisdom grumbled as he got to his feet, dusting off his clothes and rubbing at the small of his back, "I think my tailbone will never be the same again, but I'm just fine." He stretched out akwardly, his back making a soft popping noise before he asked her, "Did Excalibur really travel around like that?"  
  
Kate chuckled softly, "Didn't Kitty ever tell you about the crosstime caper?"  
  
"OK, good point," Pete nodded. He looked over at her curiously, "You do have your teleporting ability under control, right?"  
  
"Spacial teleporting, no problem," Kate smiled, then a bit more seriously, "moving through time, on the other hand, is a bit more hit and miss."  
  
Pete nodded seriously, having read about that in some of the files Excalibur kept. Kate had attempted to transport Excalibur from the near future to the present, but had lost Brian Braddock in the timestream. Returing him to his proper place had cost Rachel Summers hers, casting her to meet her destiny in the far flung future.  
  
Speaking of Rachel, Pete asked Kate curiously, "Are you certain that Rachel will be here for us to meet her?"  
  
"I contacted Nathan 'Cable' Summers," Kate said to him quietly, "and he reluctatly confirmed that she was in England now." She smiled at him wryly, "And you know that everybody shows up at this pub, sometime."  
  
"I suppose that's true," Pete nodded as they walked up to the old pub and went inside.  
  
The Wolfshead pub was something of an institution in London. Established sometime during World War one, it had originally served a more mormal sort of client. But over the years, the strange, paranormal, and just plain odd had begun to frequent it, until it became the watering hole of choice for that sort of person.  
  
As long as you did't mind unidentified bits of protien floating in your beer or the fact that your barmates weren't entirely human, it was a great pub. Smoke hung in the air, the usual non-smoking rules only rarely enforced. Pete gave a friendly nod to a few of his old friends, and a scowl or two to some old enemies, but he was really looking for just one person.  
  
The redhead sat alone at a table, looking into her mug of beer thoughtfully. The air was oddly clear around her, almost as if an invisible bubble was keeping the smoke away. A grey, dragon like creature was sitting on the table, and she was feeding it nuts from a bowl. She looked up, saw them coming, and her face lit up with a smile.  
  
"Kate," Rachel got up and happily threw her arms around the metal woman. It was a bit of a odd moment, a purely platonic gesture on Rachel's part, but the look on Kate's face...  
  
'Guess she really does love Rachel,' Pete thought sadly, 'poor devil.'  
  
"Rachel," Kate sighed out softly. The grey dragon stretched out it's wings and flew at them, circling the two until it could finally land on Kate's shoulder. She gaped at it in honest surprise and gasped, "Lougheed?!"  
  
The dragon didn't answer her verbally, just cooed happily.  
  
"How," Pete asked Rachel dryly, "did that thing get here?"  
  
The redhead smiled up at him and said with an expressive shrug, "Dunno. According to the manager, he's been in here for a few weeks mooching of any of the more soft-hearted patrons and drinking down the occasional cuppa."  
  
Lougheed gave Pete an almost smug look, "Feh!"  
  
Rachel was looking at him curiously, and Pete realized he'd forgotten to introduce himself. "Pete Wisdom," he offered her his hand.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Wisdom," Rachel shook his hand with a smile, "Cable's told me a lot about you." Pete and Kate each took a seat at the table, the dragon settling down between Rachel and Kate's seats, the better to get at a bowl of snacks there.  
  
Pete smiled wryly, "Considering we ran into each other back when I was a field operative for Black Air, it can't have been good."  
  
"Not too bad," Rachel shook her head, "he knew that you were just doing your job trying to aquire a sample of his techo-orgaic virus." She looked at them curiously, "So why did you want to talk to me, anyway?"  
  
"Can't you just read my mind?" Pete asked curiously.  
  
I Rachel's rather amused voice echoed in his mind,   
  
"Rachel," Kate chided her gently.  
  
"Sorry," she smiled at Kate.  
  
Pete smiled, and picked up his drink to soothe his dry throat. 'I'm actually nervous,' he was surprised to realize. "Prof. Xavier seems to think that there needs to be an Excalibur orgaization," he said, "and in a moment of insanity has asked me to run it."  
  
"And you want me to be a member," Rachel said thoughtfully, swirling her beer around in her glass. "You know I'm on the run, right?" she asked.  
  
"Heard about it," Pete agreed, "and I've also read your file over at Xaviers." He met her eyes across the table steadily, "Running's gotten you in a lot of trouble in the past. Maybe it's about time to stand and fight?"  
  
"Maybe so," Rachel admitted. She looked at Kate, "I guess you're in this team, too?"  
  
"If you're in, yes," Kate nodded. A slightly sad smile, "Otherwise, I'd just like to stick around with you."  
  
"Stand and fight," Rachel murmured softly. She pinned Pete with a fierce look and asked, "It's a lot easier to do if you've got good back-up. If things get really bad and crazy, will you be there to stand by me?"  
  
Pete sat up straight in his seat, but he was smiling slightly. "My whole career so far has been about things going bad and crazy," he said to her with a great deal of dignity, "and I have never ran away from a scrap."  
  
Rachel nodded with a smile, "Then I guess I'm in."  
  
Rachel extended her hand and Pete took it, then Kate gently lay her silery hand over top their two. Lougheed added a soft, 'Feh!' for emphasis. and Kate laughed.  
  
"The sword redrawn once again," Kate murmured.  
  
"Looks like it," Rachel agreed. She looked over at Pete curiously and asked him, "But who else are we going to recruit?"  
  
Just then, Pete's cellphone rang.  
  
To be continued... 


	3. Chapter Three

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Three  
  
Pete flipped open his cellphone with a distinctly irritable expression on his face. "Yes?" he asked coolly. He listened a moment, "Allistaire. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Allistaire?" Rachel looked over at Kate curiously.  
  
"Allistaire Stuart, the Weird Happenings Orgaization," Kate smiled slightly. "He ended up in charge, after they had absorbed Black Air and then consolidated all the paranormal spy agencies in Britain," she explained.  
  
Rachel nodded thoughtfully, remembering the WHO scientist that Excalibur had worked with in the field. And whom had quite a crush on her, too. "I can't quite see him as a spymaster," she admitted to Kate quietly.  
  
"Something he uses to his fullest advantage," Pete said as he flipped his phone shut and tucked it away in his black suit coat. "He's being mysterious again, says he has something to show me," he complained irritably.  
  
Kate looked at Rachel thoughtfully, then over at Pete. "Then let's go pay him a visit," the metalic woman said with a shrug.  
  
"What, now?" Pete blinked, then a slow smile spread across his face.  
  
Rachel nodded slightly, seeing that he had got it. "Having a team teleporter comes in so handy," she said with a drawl.  
  
Pete moved to lead them out of the bar when he paused and gestured to the dragon, "Could we please leave that here?"  
  
"Grrrr," Lockheed growled low in his throat.  
  
"Pete," Kate chided him, "he's a little darling."  
  
"I seem to remember that little darling trying to burn my pants off once," Pete scowled, but didn't press the issue any farther.  
  
Lockheed perched on Kate's shoulder and gave him a smug look. She reached up to scratch behind it's ears and Lockheed gave a soft, "Cooo!"  
  
Rachel was dressed in a simple sweatshirt and jeans, much different than what Pete was expecting considering her reputation. Noticing his look she smiled slightly, "Cable convinced me to tone things down just a bit."  
  
"Too bad," Kate murmured softly, but Rachel didn't hear it over the bar noise.  
  
They went behind the pub to stand in a deserted alley. Rachel took Lockheed in hand while Kate floated up slightly off the ground, and energy began to radiate out of her mechanical form until a portal fully formed before them.  
  
"You know where we're going already?" Pete blinked.  
  
"I visited it in the future," Kate said with a smile, "and I know it wasn't moved after the ew organization was founded.  
  
"Let's do this," Rachel said, holding Lockheed in her arms as she leapt through.  
  
Pete followed a bit more cautiously and Kate followed him, collapsing the portal shut behind her. There was a sense of displacement, a bright flare of light, and they dropped unceremoniously right into Allistaire Stuart's office.  
  
Thankfully, Pete fell onto the carpet, not on top of the desk. Rachel descended smoothly, as did Kate, while Lockheed soared around the room curiously.  
  
"Sorry," Rachel smiled as she offered Pete a hand up, "I'll try to soften your landing a bit the next time we do this."  
  
"Gee, thanks," Pete sighed, rubbing at the small of his back. At least he'd had a bit of beer back at the Wolfshead as a pain killer.  
  
Allistair looked mildly shell shocked as he took them in. "Looks like your team is starting to form," the brown haired former scientist smiled. He spotted Rachel and his eyes widened.  
  
"Hi, Allistaire," Rachel gave him a wave and a smile.  
  
Allistaire blinked, noting the resemblace between Widget and Kitty Pryde, and looked equally shaken. But Pete quickly jerked him back into the here and now.  
  
"You wanted to see me?" Pete asked him cooly. He still hadn't forgiven the man for keeping some of the Black Air operations running, and he wasn't quite sure how far to trust him.  
  
"Yes," Allistaire tried to regain his focus, "we stumbled across something from Black Air that might be of interest to you." He lead them out of his office and down the hall, "For a while there were two Captain Britains operating in the UK."  
  
"Brian told me about that once," Kate said quietly, "his sister, Elizabeth, wore an alternate universe Captain Britain's uniform. But she was hurt, blinded, and gave up the identity."  
  
"The uniform itself wasn't destroyed however," Allistaire relayed cheerfully, "and apparently Black Air somehow acquired it."  
  
"But I thought the suit had to be synched to a certain person to work properly," Pete said with a frown.  
  
"They've modified it somewhat," Allistair explained, "and we're still figuring out just what they did do to it." They reached a door which he keyed open, "Here we are."  
  
Inside was a massive laboratory, modified to test the limits of physical strength. The woman in the center was dressed in a uniform that resembled the final costume Captain Britain had worn, mostly in black with a simple Union Jack across the chest. She herself was slim but muscular, and the costume seemed to fit her well.  
  
Monitoring the hydrolic press that the woman was lifting against a techitian reported, "We're nearing the fifty ton range. Any strain yet?"  
  
"Smooth as silk," the woman answered him calmly.  
  
"Can we shut down the test?" Allistaire requested, adding cheerfully, "Our guests are here."  
  
The press was shut down, allowing the woman to step out from under it. She pulled the simple black helm off, running her hands through short blonde hair before walking over to their side. "My name's Lisa Garrison," she offered her hand, "formerly of STRIKE and WHO."  
  
"And when you're in the suit?" Rachel asked as she shook the tall blonde's hand.  
  
Lisa smiled slightly, "We were thinking of Britannia."  
  
"Ms. Garrison," Pete nodded, obviously recognizing her from his past.  
  
"You've met?" Kate looked between the two of them curiously.  
  
Lisa smiled slightly, "On opposite sides of a fight. We were both after an artifact, he for Black Air and I for STRIKE. I got the artifact, and a nifty little scar to remember him by." Surprisingly there was no anger in her voice, as a professional she knew what the risks were.  
  
"You were good," Pete smiled slightly. He looked over at Allistaire, "I guess you're proposing that Britannia here become a member of Excalibur?"  
  
"That's what I'd like," Lisa called his attention back to her firmly. "I'm a free agent, not officially tied to WHO," she explained.  
  
"Why'd they cut you loose?" Pete blinked.  
  
"Because," and this time Lisa did sound angry, "my sexual orientation makes me a security risk according to the Ministers."  
  
Pete gave Allistaire a look, "Who's asinine idea was that?"  
  
"Not mine," Allistaire scowled. He took a breath, "Lisa's good at what she does, as well as being a patriot. I figured making her Britannia would be a good way of keeping her in the game, as well as being able to help your team."  
  
As far as Pete could tell, Allistaire was telling him the truth. He looked up to meet Lisa's eyes steadily, considering what she said. She had come pretty damn close to killing him all those years ago, and he knew just what she was capable of for her country. He looked over to Kate and Rachel, then back to try and read her eyes.  
  
"It ain't just my call to make, but as long as my teammates don't object," Pete finally said, offering her his hand, "we'd be glad to have you."  
  
To be continued... 


	4. Chapter Four

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Four  
  
Pete looked over at Allistaire thoughtfully as they walked up the hallway together. Lisa had left go to change clothes before leaving with the Excalibur team, and Pete planned to use the chance to ask his former boss a few questions.  
  
"How's Lady Crighton been?" Pete finally asked.  
  
"The Weird Happenings Organization keeps an eye on her, like most of the publicly known superbeings in Britain," Allistaire answered him readily. A slight smile, "She's not terribly comfortable with being inactive, I've noticed."  
  
"That's good to hear," Pete smiled slightly , "we could use a super speedster on the team. Do you think she'd be interested?"  
  
"Possibly," Allistaire acknowledged, "but you are aware she isn't a mutant?"  
  
"Neither is Brittania," Pete shrugged. "Excalibur's always been closer to being England's answer to the Avengers than a X-team anyway." A short pause, "Not that the very idea of my being an Avenger isn't pretty frightening."  
  
"I'll second that," Lisa strode up the hallway dressed in slacks and a oversized sweatshirt. The slim woman looked pretty classy in it, if just a bit awkward.  
  
"What's with the full body covering?" Pete blinked.  
  
Lisa rolled up the sleeve of the sweatshirt, revealing the Brittania costume underneath. "Just in case I need to change fast," she explained.  
  
"I thought that Captain Britain had a device that let him change the costume into other forms, like street clothes?" Kate asked as she, Rachel and Lockheed returned from quick bathroom run.  
  
Allistaire smiled wryly, "The tech boys managed to bust it early on. They're promising to have it fixed any day now..."  
  
"Problem is they've been repeating that same line for the past two weeks," Lisa remarked. The slim blonde smirked, "I'm not holding my breath waiting."  
  
"Where to next, boss?" Rachel asked Pete curiously.  
  
"Scotland," Pete shrugged. He looked over at Widget, "You know where Rhane is?"  
  
"Approximately," Kate agreed.  
  
Pete looked nervous, "Rachel, you want to do a mindlink between me and Kate? That way I can give her the exact location."  
  
"Got it," even as Rachel spoke her voice echoed in Pete's mind, then she reached out to take Kate's hand. For a moment there was the oddest look on the redhead's face, then she shook herself. "Done," she said softly.  
  
"Good luck," Allistaire waved as Kate's teleport gate began to form.  
  
Pete boldly went into the shining portal first, then Rachel followed. Lisa hesitated a moment, then walked through, Lockheed flying after. The portal began to close, and Kate slipped through before it disappeared entirely.  
  
In a blaze of rainbow light the Excalibur team arrived in the Scottish highlands. Pete actually avoided falling down this time around, though he did stagger a bit as the others appeared just behind him.  
  
"Now what?" Lisa asked as she quickly scanned their surroundings, taking in the small town alley that they had arrived in.  
  
"Now we go take a visit to the Lady Moira Mctaggart Memorial school," Pete said with a shrug. He took a step forward then stopped, looking back at Kate, "Do you think you could make yourself a bit less noticeable?"  
  
Kate smiled slightly and the silver metal woman shimmered slightly. Suddenly an older looking Katherine Pryde stood before them, dressed casually with a bit of silver in her brown hair. "This better?" she asked.  
  
"You built an image inducer in?" Rachel asked with a smile.  
  
Kate shrugged, "Never leave home without it."  
  
"Remind me to ask her to build me one, too,"Lisa said to Pete quietly.  
  
"I'll do that," Pete smiled as they made their way through the town.  
  
They were drawing quite a few glances, and Pete could probably understand why. One guy, three ladies, and a uncooperative dragon being carried as secretly as possible do tend to draw the eye. It didn't help that it looked like the sort of town where everybody's related, more or less. They stood out like a sore thumb, something Pete wasn't too used to.  
  
"Trouble ahead," Kate noted.  
  
The school was being picketed, mostly by a group of older men. Signs were being waved, reading things like, "Evolution is the devil's work!" and other stirring slogans. They were lead by a brown haired man in priest's clothes, who occasionally shouted some of the more rousing slogans at the one room school just beyond.  
  
Pete scowled, recognizing the man. A hand rested on his arm, and Lisa gave him a slight smile, "No powers. I know it's tempting, but.."  
  
Pete nodded reluctantly, "Right. Thanks."  
  
Pete lead them towards the picket, soon catching the eye of their leader. The large man tried to be intimidating as he growled, "Are you strangers with that spawn of Satan?"  
  
"Rhane Sinclair's a friend of mine, Reverend Craig," Pete's eyes narrowed, "and I don't care to hear people talk about her that way."  
  
"Oh hell," Rachel muttered as the picketers began to move up behind the priest. She exchanged a fast glance with Kate and Lisa, and they moved up to back Pete.  
  
"We will drive the spawn out of.." Reverend Craig started, only to trail off.  
  
Pete looked at him calmly, but it was as if something dark in him had been released. For many years Pete Wisdom had done the dirty work for Black Air, and that sort of thing marks a man. He had been a killer, and at that moment was letting all those old instincts out.  
  
"Get out of here," Pete said with a deadly coldness, "now."  
  
"I'm impressed," Kate quietly admitted as the Reverend and his merry band fled, shouting back curses at them as they went.  
  
Soft clapping could be heard, and they turned to see a young woman standing in the doorway of the school. Long black hair flowed down her back, her skin just a bit darker than their own. She smiled, "I recognize Rachel, and that looks a lot like Kitty, but I don't know the rest of you."  
  
"Kate," she corrected her with a smile.  
  
"Pete Wisdom," he nodded and then waved, "and over here is Lisa Garrison. Dani Moonstar, I presume?"  
  
"Come on in," Dani smiled, "I'm sure Rhane will want to see you."  
  
To be continued... 


	5. Chapter Five

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Five  
  
Rhane Sinclair was standing in the front of the classroom, sorting out a pile of papers. Without looking up she asked, "Dani, did the protesters leave?"  
  
Dani Moonstar smiled slightly as the Native American said, "Not exactly. It seems that our guests scared them away."  
  
"Good," Rhane looked up with a grin, meeting Pete's eyes. "Mr. Wisdom, it's good to see you," she walked quite sedately up to him to offer her hand. It was obvious from the bounce in her step that she wanted to run, but was restraining herself.  
  
"You've been keeping busy," Pete looked around at the school while he shook the redheaded werewolf's hand before adding, "And it's Pete, remember?"  
  
"I try," Rhane grinned. She looked past him, "Hullo, Rachel." Her eyes widened when she saw Kate, "Kitty? Did something happen to you?"  
  
"It's Kate," she shrugged as she explained, "time travel thing."  
  
"Ah," Rhane nodded, having been in the X-Men long enough to take that sort of thing quite calmly. She petted Lockheed, then looked over at Lisa, "Have we met?"  
  
"Not yet," the slim but muscular blonde smiled, "Lisa Garrison, also known as Britannia."  
  
"Captain Britain," Rhane murmured softly. She gave Pete a piercing gaze, "You're reforming Excalibur, aren't you?"  
  
"You got it," Pete nodded, and he included Dani in his look as he said, "I was coming here with the intention of asking you to join."  
  
"It's up to Rhane," Dani said simply. She smiled, "I'm still a reserve X-Man, so I consider myself on-call anyway."  
  
"We'd be honored to join," Rhane smiled happily.  
  
"But," Rachel waved about the school, "what about this place?"  
  
Rhane smiled gently, "I founded this place using moneys that Moira set up, as part of an educational trust. But now that it's soon to be up and running, I'm going to become more of a liability to the school than a benefit."  
  
"The protesters outside," Lisa said sourly.  
  
"Exactly," Dani agreed. "We were planning to be out of here soon anyway, to take away the lightning rod we represent to them," she explained.  
  
"Then it's good to have you," Pete grinned.  
  
There was a round of greetings and congratulations as they welcomed their new teammates, then Rachel gently put her hand on Pete's shoulder. "Would you mind if I take Kate outside for a few minutes?" she asked him.  
  
Pete shrugged slightly, "Sure, just as long as Kate's going to be ready to transport us all back to Muir Island, anyway."  
  
Rachel stepped up to Kate, "Would you mind? I want to talk to you a minute."  
  
"Sure, Rachel," Kate followed her out with a slight frown on her face. It was obvious that the older woman wasn't quite sure what was going on, and it bothered her a little. They moved away from the door to the side of the building, where they both stood silently for a bit. Finally, Kate just had to ask Rachel, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rachel asked softly.  
  
"Tell you what?" Kate blinked.  
  
"How you feel about me!" she snapped. At Kate's stunned look Rachel took a deep breath, "When I was passing the location information from Pete to you, I caught on."  
  
"I'm sorry," Kate said quietly, "I'll try to guard my thoughts better."  
  
"That's not what's bothering me," Rachel said in much more level tones, "why did you never tell me about how you felt?"  
  
Kate reached up, running a hand through her short brown hair, and Rachel marveled at how realistic the illusion surrounding Kate's metal form was. "I started to fall for you not long after we broke out of the concentration camp together," she said to Rachel quietly, "and you were still in grieving over Franklin at the time."  
  
Rachel nodded reluctantly, "I remember." She looked over at Kate curiously, "But once your mind reformed in Widget, why didn't you tell me then?"  
  
"My memories were still shot full of holes," Kate said with a wry smile, "something I could feel you trying to fix when we were mindlinked."  
  
"When we reprogrammed the Sentinels," Rachel agreed. Linking organic with cybernetic minds, Rachel and Widget had invaded the core mind of the Sentinels, reprogramming them into a protective force for both man and mutant.  
  
"It wasn't until you were all gone back to the past that I began to fully recall my feelings for you," Kate said to Rachel softly. Another wry smile, "So I built the most humanoid body I could and followed you back here."  
  
Rachel smiled back, "And when were you planning on telling me?"  
  
"Once I got my courage up," Kate shrugged. At Rachel's odd look she elaborated, "You have been one of the most relentlessly heterosexual women I know."  
  
"A point," Rachel admitted, "though there have been times..."  
  
"Oh?" Kate looked at her curiously.  
  
"Kitty and I, once," Rachel admitted, blushing faintly, "back when we were roommates in Excalibur's old lighthouse base, we flirted quite a bit."  
  
"So what do you want to do now?" Kate asked Rachel softly.  
  
"For now, I need to get used to the idea," Rachel admitted, "not just to the idea of a woman being interested in me, but also the fact that you're technorganic, more or less."  
  
"I can understand that," Kate agreed. Quietly she added, "I won't mention any of this to Pete and the others, either."  
  
"Thanks," Rachel smiled. Before Kate could move off she stepped forward, gently kissing the older woman on the cheek. "No matter what I decide, you'll always be my friend," she said simply.  
  
Pete watched the two women walk in, and frowned slightly. There was a slightly different vibe between them, but it didn't seem to be a romantic one. 'Damn, I was hoping that Kate told her,' he thought to himself grimly.  
  
"So where do we go now?" Rhane came out from the back of the school. Both she and Dani carried a duffel bag each, likely stuffed with clothes.  
  
"Muir Isle," Pete said. He smiled, "The Prof. said we could use it as a base, and from what I understand Lady Moira might have liked that."  
  
"She would have," Rhane agreed with a sad smile.  
  
"Then let's do this," Kate shed the illusion, reverting to her metallic form. Waves of light emanated from her middle, and in seconds a portal shone in front of them.  
  
"Are you sure this is safe?" Dani looked at it warily.  
  
"Ridden it three times, haven't lost anything yet," Pete offered.  
  
"It's the 'yet' that worries me," Lisa said as she stepped through the portal. The rest soon followed, Rachel, Dani, Rhane, Lockheed, Pete and finally Kate herself.  
  
To be continued... 


	6. Chapter Six

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Six  
  
Pete Wisdom smiled to himself slightly as the black haired Englishman lead the group of his old and new teammates through what he had come to think of as the Excalibur wing of the Muir Island Research station.  
  
"We've got suites to sleep everybody comfortably," Pete gestured to one section as they passed it then added, "up ahead the Prof. and Hank McCoy got a version of the original Cerebro system set up here."  
  
"But I thought that you had to be a telepath to get that thing working," Dani Moonstar asked him curiously.  
  
"That's where I come in, I think," Rachel Summers smiled slightly. The redhead raised an eyebrow, "I assume we're using it to track down evil mutants?"  
  
"And to be ready to help out any newly awakening mutants," Pete agreed. He shrugged slightly, "I'm certainly not qualified to actually train 'em, but for that I figure we can pass the kids on to Xavier's School itself."  
  
Rhane Sinclair began to chuckle to herself softly, and everyone looked over at her curiously. "Sorry," the little redhead smiled just a bit sheepishly, "I was just remembering when Mr. Wisdom was hurt and in a wheelchair. He, uhm, borrowed Moria's bathing cap and then did a really bad Prof. Xavier impersonation."  
  
Dani smirked, "That I would have liked to have seen."  
  
"Next time I'm drunk," Pete promised, "I'll do it as a party trick."  
  
Lisa Garrison shook her head with a slight smile as the slim blonde muttered quietly, "Being in WHO and STRIKE was never like this."  
  
"It sort of grows on you," Kate Pryde offered, the silver metal woman smiling slightly. She grinned, "Or maybe it's infectious." The dragon Lockheed had already disappeared almost as soon as they arrived, likely getting into something again.  
  
"I'd bet on infectious," Rachel shrugged. She reached out with her telekinesis and tugged on Pete's collar forcefully to get his attention, "I know it's a great setup, Mr. Wisdom," she said patiently, "but it's been a pretty long day for most of us."  
  
"Right, sorry," a slightly embarrassed Pete said as he lead all them back towards the residential section. "The rooms are all either singles or doubles," he explained, "and the doors can be voice keyed for up to two people."  
  
"Double," Dani raised her hand, and Rhane nodded with a fierce blush. Both young women retreated together, while Rachel, Lisa and Kate all opted for singles.  
  
Pete looked over at the bedroom that he had claimed for himself earlier on, then shook his head firmly. He was still a bit too excited to try and get to sleep, so he made his way down the hallway towards the new operations center that Xavier had installed there after the decision to reactivate Excalibur had been made.  
  
One wall was a massive communications setup, with ties to the X-Men's headquarters, Avengers' Mansion in New York, Alpha Flight's Department H in Canada, and finally a link to Russia's home superteam, whatever they were calling themselves this week.  
  
A central table, with monitor stations and other functions at each seat was set up in the middle of the room. It was placed so that they could use the communication system to talk with the other teams as well as allowing them to talk amongst themselves.  
  
'And when needed, it'll make a fine dining room table too,' Pete thought to himself wryly. He flopped down into one of the chairs to look up at the far wall, a sight he thought would be keeping him up nights from now on.  
  
The map was sodding huge, showing from the United Kingdom, all across Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, China, Southeast Asia all the way down to Japan and Madripoor. As the X-Men and their allies covered North America, Excalibur and the X-corps divisions out here were going to be expected to watch over this part of the world.  
  
It was enough to drive a man to drink.  
  
"If it helps any," an clearly amused sounding voice came up from behind him, "there are a few local heroes available to help." Kate Pryde came into his line of sight before giving Pete a frown, "You should be getting some sleep."  
  
"I'm still too wired to sleep," Pete shrugged slightly before looking up curiously, "and shouldn't you be taking your own advice?"  
  
"I'm an artificial being, more or less, so I don't need to sleep," Kate pointed out. She chuckled softly, "I can certainly tell you're wired. I seem to remember you running off on the mouth when you're very nervous."  
  
"Gee, thanks," Pete sighed. He looked up at the map, "I'm not deeply impressed with the local European superheroes, either."  
  
"There's always Shamrock," Kate smirked slightly, referring to the lucky green clover clad heroine of Ireland.  
  
"Gah," Pete made a face.  
  
A chuckling Kate patted him gently on the shoulder as she reassured him, "You know you've got a good team here, Pete." She grinned slightly, "And knowing you, you've got a few other recruits hidden up your sleeve too."  
  
"A couple," Pete rubbed at his eyes.  
  
"Get some sleep," Kate said firmly before slipping out quietly.  
  
In one of the newly occupied bedrooms Dani Moonstar tossed a long nightshirt over her head even as Rhane disrobed beside her. "I think I'm going to like this suite" Dani commented, the Native American woman slowing a bit as she felt Rhane's gaze on her body.  
  
"If it gets cold," Rhane smiled up at her gently as the Scottish girl pulled her own night wear on, "I promise to try to keep you warm."  
  
Dani nearly choked on a laugh, "Who are you and where's the real Rhane?"  
  
"Right here," Rhane said softly, "I'm just a lot more relaxed around you." The two women got into the large double bed, snuggling together under the covers. Rhane hesitated, "Dani, how long have you had feelings for me?"  
  
Dani sighed, "Quite a while, honestly." She smiled slightly, "Do you remember when Legion hurt you, when you were visiting here a while back?"  
  
"Sam told be about it," Rhane murmured from the safety of Dani's arms, "he said you were frantic to get to me."  
  
"Being seperated from you then was hard enough," Dani shrugged slightly, "but when you were hurt by him..."  
  
"I guess you couldn't have told me about it back then," Rhane admitted, thinking of the frightened, repressed girl she had once been.  
  
"You probably would have fainted on the spot," Dani snickered, feeling Rhane also shaking with her laughter in her arms.  
  
In a room nearby Rachel Summers lay nude on her bed, gazing up at the ceiling while waiting for sleep to claim her. 'How could I have been so blind?' she wondered. Working with Kate Pryde in the resistance, telling her conficences, they had been best friends. And she had completely missed the fact that Kate was falling in love with her.  
  
"Guess being a telepath doesn't always help," Rachel muttered softly.  
  
Finally, Lisa Garrison was sitting on top of her covers, talking to someone softly on the telephone, "Yeah, I miss you too, love."  
  
There was a short pause as Lisa listened, "Yeah, I'll ask him about having you stay here on the island. I don't think he'll mind too much."  
  
She smirked just slightly at what she heard. "Now there's a thought to go to bed to," Lisa snickered. With a gentle smile, "I'll talk to you tomorrow." She set the phone down and rolled onto the bed, smiling goofily.  
  
'Hope that Mr. Wisdom doesn't have a problem with it,' Lisa thought. She sighed softly, 'The whole group seems pretty friendly, there shouldn't be a problem.'  
  
Back in the command center Pete caught himself yawning. "Guess I should get to bed," he got up and stretched out, yawning once again. "Tomorrow's going to be another busy day," he murmured as he headed to bed.  
  
To be continued... 


	7. Wisdom Files

The Excalibur Alternative: the Wisdom Files  
  
Pete Wisdom sighed to himself softly as he sat down to review his email account. using a command center station late at night. About half his nearly full inbox went right into the trash, a few of the more interesting adult spam's he put aside to deal with later on. Finally, and only with the greatest reluctance, did he open up an email that was marked from Professor Charles Xavier.  
  
"Mr. Wisdom," the mail from Xavier read, and he could almost imagine the lecturing tone in his voice, "I was wondering if you could please put together your impressions of your new teammates in Excalibur? This information could be quite useful in coordinating your team's activities along with the other x-teams."  
  
"Gah," Pete made a face at that. He hated doing paperwork anyway, especially of this kind, but... "If I don't do it," he finally grumbled to himself, "I'll probably just get nagged about it until I do." He got up to fill up his coffee to keep himself awake, then lit up a smoke.  
  
The word processing program opened up, and Pete created a new blank document. "Now how the 'ell do I do this.." he muttered softly. After a bit of thought he decided to go through his teammates in chronological order, more or less. For a moment he wondered how a file on him would look like, but he could probably guess...  
  
Pete Wisdom: A former operative of the British Intelligence community, who was employed by Black Air. Assigned to Excalibur as an observer, he participated in an operation in Genosha. Working along with Katherine Pryde he discovered the criminal activities that Black Air was involved with. Resigning he joined Excalibur, remaining a member of the team until a dispute with Kitty caused him to resign. Worked with X-Force, faked his own death to go underground before reemerging to assist the Weird Happenings Organization (WHO).  
  
"Bollocks," Pete sighed. He leaned back, lighting up a smoke as he considered what to do. "I hate time travel," he muttered as he began to type.  
  
Widget, a.k.a. Kate Pryde: Caught in a Sentinel trap, the future Kate Pryde was killed in a temporal experiment. Her mind shattered, her life-essence traveled back in time, eventually being contained in the Widget Robot. Possessed of unpredictable teleportational abilities Widget was as much of a curse to the team as a blessing. Repaired, Widget's consciousness returned, eventually regaining the full knowledge of her past. Kate led Excalibur into the future, battling alongside Rachel Summers to shut the Sentinels down. She stayed in that era for a time, but after building a more humanoid body she ultimately turned up in my living room asking to join Excalibur.  
  
Pete took a long drag. "I really bloody hate time travel," he sighed, hoping the last paragraph made sense. He didn't include his own confusion about Kate, it was personal. In some ways she was the girl he had fell for, but in others entirely different. "Not to mention being hung up on Rachel," he muttered. "Speaking of which.."  
  
Rachel Summers: (No, I don't know her bloody codename, as her ma is Phoenix now..) the time traveling daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey she escaped a Sentinel ruled future to join the X-men in the here and now. A founding member of Excalibur she was lost to the team in a temporal incident, throwing her into the far future to found the society that would eventually help Nathan Summers, a.k.a. Cable. Returning to the Twenty-first century she went undercover to hide from the Dark Sisterhood, at least until I talked her into joining the new Excalibur.  
  
Pete reached over to take a slurp of his now warm coffee. "Wonder if I should mention that Kate's in love with her?" he mused. He thought about it, then shook his head, "Nah. I don't know if Rachel returns her feelings, and either way it ain't Xavier's business."  
  
Britannia, a.k.a. Lisa Garrison: Some people might remember that there were two Captain Britains for a bit, but most don't remember the third. Elizabeth Braddock wore the suit, operating as Captain Britain until she was blinded by one of Cap's old enemies, Slaymaster. The suit itself disappeared, but Black Air tracked it down. They were in the process of modifying it when Excalibur shut them down, and the suit ended up with WHO.  
  
"Bit dry," Pete muttered before going back to type the rest of the entry.  
  
Lisa Garrison, the suit's current owner, has worked for both STRIKE and WHO, and we've had a few run ins over the years for our respective organizations. A very capable officer, one WHO only let go when politicians raised a stink over her elven girlfriend. Allistair Stuart recommended her to me, and so far she's made a fine teammate.  
  
"Allistair," Pete sighed to himself. He wasn't quite sure how far to trust the new director of WHO, to be honest. The man came across like a typical befuddled scientist, but Pete was pretty certain that was just a pose. Whatever was beneath it was what he wondered about...  
  
Wolfsbane, a.k.a. Rhane Sinclair: raised, if you want to call it that, by Reverend Craig, the redhead was declared a werewolf when her power first manifested itself. Saved from the Reverend by Moira MacTaggart she found care and acceptance for the first time, coming to look on the Scotts woman as a second mother. Training with the New Mutants Rhane met Dani Moonstar, a deep bond forming almost instantly between them. She left the team to join X-factor, then ultimately became a member of the previous Excalibur when it was based out of Moira's mutant research station. Moira's death devastated her, and that pain called Dani Moonstar back to her side.  
  
"Wonder if I should put in our speculation that Craig might be Rhane's biological dad? Nah, never proven. And if Xavier don't know that Dani and Rhane are lovers," Pete made a face, "then he's got to be blind. On to the other member of the pair.."  
  
Dani Moonstar: (She's using her last name as a codename, and I ain't typing it twice!) A native American mutant raised on the reservation until her parents disappeared. When she first joined the New Mutants she was able to manifest illusions of a person's greatest fears and desires, so she called herself Mirage. She and Rhane bonded almost immediately, developing a bit of a sisterly relationship. Injured in an adventure with Asgardian Valkyries she left the team, eventually taking a page from my book and going undercover as the 'villainess' Moonstar. Eventually becoming a reserve X-Men she rushed to Rhane's side when the girl needed her once again after Moira's death.  
  
"Asgardian Valkyries..." Pete shook his head. If he hadn't heard about the X-men's adventures in Asgard from Kitty herself, he probably wouldn't have believed it. In an odd way it was comforting to know that the X-Men had been involved in almost as much weird stuff as he had. Probably met he'd fit right in, or something.  
  
Spitfire, a.k.a. Jacqueline Farnsworth Crighton: the daughter of the British hero Union Jack, she was badly injured in World War II. An emergency blood transfusion from the android Human Torch saved her life, but also triggered a latent super-speed ability. Alongside the heroes called the Invaders she fought the Nazis, retiring not long after the war ended. A few years ago Jacqueline attended a reunion of the surviving Invaders, and got tangled up with a group of neo-Nazis. Badly injured she was given a second transfusion from the Human Torch, with an unexpected side effect: she reverted to being a teen again. More recently she's been manifesting unpredictable thermal abilities, and Excalibur contacted her to offer our assistance.  
  
Pete killed the last of his coffee, drinking down the cold dregs. "Who in their right mind would allow an android to give a blood transfusion in the first place?" he questioned aloud. "I'd have thought Captain America, at least, would have had a bit more common sense."  
  
Dr. Cecelia Reines: (She's not technically a member, but I'll be dealing with her pretty regularly, so...) Cecelia joined the X-men during the craziness of Operation Zero Tolerance, when her emergency room was attacked by the Prime Sentinels. The African-American, along side the unlikely team of Iceman and the heroine Sabra helped stop Zero Tolerance, then became a somewhat reluctant X-Man. She became pretty good at using her personal forcescreen both offensively and defensively, but she never particularly enjoyed being an member of the X-Men, and quickly took the position here at Muir Island when the Prof. offered it.  
  
"Guess that's it for now," Pete sighed as he rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He saved the file, then copied it over to the email program. He attached it to a mail to the Professor, and a click of the mouse sent it on it's way. "Now, to bed," and with that he staggered off. 


	8. Seven

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Seven  
  
The sun was only just coming up, and Pete found himself in the kitchen, dressed in a black track suit and drinking a cup of coffee from a pot that someone else had already made. 'Wonder who else is up this early?' he thought.  
  
"Good morning, Pete," Rhane smiled up at him as the green nightie clad girl reached for the coffee pot, "Dani makes great coffee, doesn't she?"  
  
"Hmm," Pete agreed as he took a slurp, "good coffee." The black haired Englishman hesitated for a moment, "How's the powers situation with you?"  
  
"I'm back at full strength," Rhane reassured him, the little redhead smiling gently.  
  
Pete shrugged slightly as he explained, "I didn't want to ask in front of the others, just in case it was bad news."  
  
"Thanks," Rhane smiled. She poured another cup, making it up the way she knew Dani liked it, "I'll see you later, all right?"  
  
"See you," he smiled. Rhane was almost like a happy puppy as she trotted off carrying the cups of coffee for her lover and her. Pete took his own cup with him as he stepped outside, drinking and enjoying the crisp morning air.  
  
A few minutes later the figure shimmered slightly, almost looking like he was materializing from the fog before him. The costume he wore was white, a red shield on his chest, hood and cape floating around him. On the shield itself was a golden lion, rearing up in battle. The man settled on the rough ground not far from Pete.  
  
"I'd still like to know how you even managed to contact me," the man finally said.  
  
"Albion," Pete nodded a greeting.  
  
Once a mystical champion who had fought for Britain during both the first and second world wars, Albion had dropped out of sight many years ago. Now an old man, Albion's powers had recently been restored to him, granting him the ability to become a young man once again.  
  
With a wry smile Pete said, "I'm still friends with Brian Braddock, who helped with the Knights of Pendragon, of which you are a member."  
  
"Of course," the man smiled wryly. Albion fixed him with an intense gaze, "I'm sorry to say I must decline membership in Excalibur."  
  
Pete didn't look too terribly devastated, somehow. "I really wasn't expecting you to," he admitted, "but I thought I should make you the offer."  
  
Albion actually smiled slightly, "Then thank you, for remembering an old man." Without a sound he disappeared into the mists, a silent shadow disappearing, but his final words lingered, "I will be there, if there is a real need."  
  
"Thanks," Pete raised his cup in salute. He stood there a while, enjoying the peace while finishing off his cup of coffee. Somehow, he rather suspected that he wasn't going to have such moments all that often.  
  
BOOM!  
  
The thunder crack split the air, and Pete jumped in surprise, his coffee spilling on the ground even as the hot blades formed from his fingers instinctively. With a laugh Britannia soared on by, clearly enjoying the power of light.  
  
"This is great!" the woman laughed happily, the mist rippling from the sonic boom Britannia had just generated.  
  
Pete took a moment to calm down, not to mention letting his heart recover from the shock. He really wanted to yell something rude at her, but the black garbed woman was having such a good time he just couldn't seem to manage it.  
  
'Must be getting soft in my old age,' Pete thought, and with a soft sigh he headed in, to get some more coffee and maybe something to eat.  
  
"Mornin' Pete," Rachel mumbled, her red hair standing up, messy from sleep. She looked around the small kitchen, latching onto the coffee happily, completely unconcerned that she was wearing T-shirt, panties, and nothing else.  
  
Trying not to look at her too hard Pete got another coffee and retreated to the monitor room. He had to think about how to approach his next recruit, and drinking it in there would help keep him out of trouble, hopefully.  
  
Pete got halfway through it when there was a knock at the door. Lisa stood with her costume helmet under her arm, her short blonde hair plastered down from wearing it. She smiled cautiously, "Could I ask you something?"  
  
"Come on in," Pete gestured her to one of the seats at the table.  
  
Lisa took a seat, setting the helm down beside her. Athletic, with a clearly capable manner, a top agent of STRIKE and WHO before they decided to cut her loose. With an engaging smile she said, "I rather like the idea of the team living on the island, but there's one little problem."  
  
"Yes?" Pete raised an eyebrow, drinking a bit before putting the cup back down.  
  
Lisa actually blushed a bit as she confessed, "I have a girlfriend, and I'd really rather not have us living in separate places."  
  
"I assume WHO had her checked out?" Pete asked curiously.  
  
"Hm," Lisa nodded glumly. "Just having a girlfriend was enough to make the Minister give me the boot, even though she checked out clean," she scowled.  
  
"Well, I don't see any problem," Pete shrugged.  
  
"Thanks," Lisa reached out to shake his hand firmly, "I'll call her, let her know she can come out to the island in the next few days." Picking up her helmet off the table she turned and left, whistling to herself cheerfully.  
  
Pete watched her go, remembering the last time he had a girlfriend, then shook his head. 'Time to get to work,' he thought, finishing off his coffee and then picking up the phone. He tapped the number in, then smiled wryly as a maid picked up the phone. "Could I speak with Lady Crighton, please? It's a matter of some urgency," he smiled.  
  
A few minutes later in his room Pete finished changing into one of his black suits with tie. He strode out and went down a few doors, tapping on one. "Kate, you in there?"  
  
"Come in," her oddly distorted voice answered.  
  
Pete opened up the door, stepped inside then froze in surprise. Kate's metallic body sat there limply on the bed, slumped over like a puppet with it's strings cut. It was an odd gray color, almost as if the life that animated it had been entirely removed. Just above the robotic shell a glowing blob floated, shining with rainbow lights.  
  
"Kate?" Pete asked weakly.  
  
"Sorry," the lob answered, then the rainbow lights seemed to flow into the body on the bed. It jerked, twitched a few times, then the eyes opened up. Somehow it changed, the life returning to the metallic form. "Just stretching my legs, or something," Kate smiled.  
  
"I keep forgetting that you're an energy being,:" Pete admitted. He shook himself, "Do you think you could transport me to the Crighton residence?"  
  
"No problem," Kate got up off the bed, stretching a bit. They walked out together as she curiously asked, "So who are you leaving in charge?"  
  
"Since I'm taking you with me," Pete shrugged, "Dani Moonstar."  
  
Kate raised an elegant metal eyebrow, "I take it I'm your second in command?"  
  
"You're one of the most experienced team members," Pete shrugged. He looked over at her curiously, "You mind?"  
  
"I'm complimented," Kate answered with a smile.  
  
Letting the others know he was leaving and that Dani was in charge while he was gone went pretty well, though he did notice a slight frown on Lisa's face. 'Guess I'll have to keep an eye on that, too,' he thought wryly.  
  
"Ready?" Kate smiled before rising up into the air, the rainbow lights within her forming the teleportational portal. Pete leapt through, Kate followed, and the portal faded to nothingness.  
  
The manor house that the two of them walked up to was an old English home, the kind of place that gets passed down through the generations and almost becomes one of the family, much like a grouchy great aunt. The doorbell rang deep and low, the sort of sound you feel in your bones.  
  
"Why do I feel like a bit player in a drama off the telly?" Kate asked, safely disguised beneath the illusion of her previous human form.  
  
Pete's lips quirked a bit, but he didn't have time to answer before the door swung open. The young woman looked like she was in her teens, the only thing off being her pure white hair. "Lady Crighton," Pete smiled, "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice..."  
  
Before Pete could finish the sentence the woman grabbed him, slamming him up against the wall before he could even blink. "I do not care for people like you," Jacqueline Crighton said simply, "who use hints and insinuations to secure a meeting with me."  
  
Kate looked ready to jump in, and Pete waved a hand to let her know it was all right. "My apologies," he said calmly, "but you aren't an easy woman to contact."  
  
Jacqueline met his eyes, her gaze intent. "All right," she reluctantly loosened her grip on his collar, "then let's talk."  
  
To be continued... 


	9. Eight

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Eight  
  
Jacqueline Crighton turned, the fiercely frowning young woman leading them inside. "Take a seat," she waved when they entered a comfortable sitting room, "I'm sure tea's on it's way."  
  
"Thank you," Pete smiled, gesturing for Kate to sit first, then sitting in one of the comfortable chairs himself. He leaned forward slightly, "The reason I wanted to contact you..."  
  
Jacqueline raised a hand, "Let's wait for the tea, shall we?"  
  
'Trying to put me off balance,' Pete smiled to himself wryly, 'I think I like her.' He gave Kate a cautious glance before asking, "Can you drink tea?"  
  
"Not a problem," Kate pushed her graying hair back from her face. The hologram hid her robotic body perfectly, making her look just like a fit older woman.  
  
A young woman came in, dressed in casual clothing. "The tea, ma'am," she smiled, carrying the tray steadily. She sat it down, then poured the cups for all three of them. She looked at Jacqueline curiously, "Would you like sandwiches?"  
  
"Thank you," Jacqueline smiled up at her, "we should be fine, Kathy. Take a break for a bit."  
  
Kathy smiled back cheerfully, "You're welcome." With that, she left them quietly.  
  
Jacqueline picked up her cup, drinking a bit of tea before giving Kate a thoughtful look. "You're hiding it fairly well," she noted, "but you look confused. I take it your colleague didn't tell you what you're doing here?"  
  
"I'm willing to wait and see," Kate answered coolly.  
  
"Play nice," Pete muttered to her softly. He smiled wryly as he said a bit louder, "Kate Pryde, I'd like you to meet Jacqueline Crighton, once Farnsworth, and she was the World War Two era superspeedster heroine known as Spitfire."  
  
"World War Two?" Kate raised an eyebrow in surprise.  
  
"I thought everyone in the country had heard all about it by now," Jacqueline smiled slightly. She tilted her head to the side, "I became involved with a reunion with other WWII heroes a few years back, including the android Human Torch. A blood transfusion from him was what first triggered my powers, and when I was badly injured he gave me another transfusion. It saved me from my wounds but it also seemed to revert me to this age."  
  
Kate leaned forward, her eyes narrowed slightly, "Fascinating." She looked at her curiously, "I guess you've been tested to try to determine..."  
  
"No, android blood isn't a fountain of youth," Jacqueline quickly cut her off, "it seems that I'm a special case."  
  
"And part of why I'm here," Pete smiled wryly. He took a drink of his tea, "A friend of mine over at WHO passed on a report that you've been having some problems with your powers, that you were manifesting thermal powers." He put the cup down, "We'd like to help."  
  
"And in exchange I become a member of your team?" Jacqueline fixed him with a intense gaze, one that she had lots of practice using lately.  
  
"No," Pete surprised her, "no strings attached."  
  
Jacqueline sat back, her expression thoughtful. "I have some pull with WHO as well, Mr. Wisdom," she finally said, "and after you arranged to contact me I asked them to send me your file." She drank some tea, "You're not living up to your reputation."  
  
Pete hesitated, clearly considering his answer. "I did some pretty questionable stuff working for Black Air," he said, "but I did it for what I thought was Queen and country."  
  
"Thermal powers?" Kate asked with a frown. She was begining to get a bit irritated at always being one step behind today. 'Next time, I get Pete to give me a full briefing,' she thought.  
  
"Back during the war," Jacqueline smiled wryly at using that old phrase, "I left a flaming trail behind me when I ran, but that was it." A soft sigh, "But more recently, my entire body burst uncontrollably into flames."  
  
"Then let's get you to Muir Island and check it out," Kate suggested.  
  
Pete stood up, Kate following, but Jacqueline remained sitting there, looking up at him thoughtfully. Finally she set her cup down and rose, "Why not, it seems I have nothing to lose." She brushed off her pants, "I didn't hear a vehicle when you arrived, so may I ask how we are going to get to this island?"  
  
"Kate will handle it," Pete nodded to her.  
  
Jacqueline narrowed her eyes, "Then I had best let Kathy know I'll be away." There was a blur of motion, then she reappeared, "Ready."  
  
Kate shimmered, the hologram that normally disguised her falling away to reveal the suilvery metal of her body. Jacqueline's eyes widened, but other than that she didn't react.  
  
'A tough lady,' Pete noted, even as the rainbow light flowed out of Kate to create the gate that would transport them to the island. "If you want," Pete said, "I can go first, Lady Crighton."  
  
Jacqueline looked at the portal,, her whitwe hair blown back by the displacement of air. "No, I'll go first," she paused to give Pete a cautious glance, "and you can call me Jackie."  
  
Pete blinked as she disapeared, then shrugged. He stepped through, and Kate followed, the portal collapsing behind them. It was raining again on the other side, and the wind was begining to pick up once more.  
  
"Well, aren't you three a mess," Dani blinked as they trooped in from the storm. They quickly got some towels for Pete and Jackie, while Kate dried herself.  
  
"Next time," Pete gave Kate a look, "transport us inside of the buildings, please."  
  
"It's a bit hit and miss transporting inside of structures," Kate explained calmly, "I don't know if we could emerge inside of something, but I wouldn't want to risk it."  
  
"Pete," Rhane had her hand on Jackie's brow, the redheaded young woman looking very concerned, "she's burning with fever."  
  
It took a moment to register, then Pete jumped to his feet, "Everybody get back!"  
  
Smoke rose from Jackie's clothes, then suddenly she was engulfed in flames, the fire quickly spreading outwards. She cried out, shock and fear in her voice, her face still visible through the fire as she gazed at them in horror.  
  
"Get behind me," Lisa pulled her helmet on, putting herself between them and the fire. She groaned as the fire hit, but oddly only her outer clothes burned, the Britannia uniform protecting her. Softly she managed, "I've got the suit's forcefield spread out as far as I can to protect us, but it's barely holding this off."  
  
"My psionic arrows might put her out," Dani offered, forming one even as she spoke.  
  
"We don't know if consciousness actually effects her powers yet," Pete said dryly. He looked over at Rachel, "Can you mind link me to her?"  
  
"Right," the redhead concentrated, Rachel reaching out to Pete with her mind, then she focused on connecting to Jackie. The white haired woman's mind was in turmoil, but she managed to touch her, "Link established."  
  
Later on Pete couldn't really explain to the others what, exactly, he had said to her. In some ways it wasn't really language he was using at all, gently guiding her, calming her down, using his own experience with his thermal powers to show her how to power down.  
  
The heat flickered, then the flames were simply.. gone. "Thank god," Jackie muttered softly in relief, even as she felt the presence in her mind withdrawl. She looked down, realized she had burned her clothes off and screamed, covering herself with her hands.  
  
Pete whirled around, but not before taking in some of the major details. With a slight flush to his cheeks he shrugged off his slightly damp trenchcoat, handing it back to Jackie and muttering, "Here, this should cover you for now."  
  
"Thank you," Jackie's own face was red as she pulled it on, buttoning up the front.  
  
"Are you all right?" Rhane ventured forth to ask her softly.  
  
"Yes, except for my dignity," Jackie answered with a smile and a fierce blush. She met their eyes, the redheaded American, tall English woman, Native American, mechanical lady, Scottish girl and all the others. "I'm Jackie Crighton, it's nice to meet you," was the best thing she could come up with to say at the moment.  
  
To be continued.. 


	10. Nine

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Nine  
  
"This," Jackie came out of the lockers, still brushing back her long white hair, "is a ridiculous looking outfit." The black and gold costume of the X-Men that she was wearing fit her pretty snugly, showing off her curves.  
  
"Probably," Lisa smiled, the tall, muscular blonde leaning up against the wall nearby, "but Pete mentioned they're made of unstable molecules. It won't burn up, if you ignite again."  
  
"Thank you for reminding me," Jackie sighed, "I haven't been so embarrassed in years."  
  
Lisa gave her a slight smile, "It happens, believe me." She smiled in memory, "The first time I wore the Captain Britain suit, I managed to slam right into a roof, without a helmet."  
  
"Ouch," Jackie made a face. They walked for a few moments until they met Pete in the hallway, waiting with a distinctly odd look on his face.  
  
"Lisa, there's someone here to see you," Pete said dryly.  
  
From just behind Pete a redheaded woman darted out. Nearly as tall as Lisa herself, but more willowy, she moved with an almost unearthly grace, this young woman with the delicately pointed ears. "M'love," she exclaimed happily, and threw her arms around Lisa's neck, kissing her vigorously on the lips, "I've missed you."  
  
"Sorry, Llyan," Lisa smiled, "it's been a hectic couple of days."  
  
Pete ran a hand through his hair, looking distinctly irritable, "Lisa, you couldn't have mentioned to me that your girlfriend is a Sidhe?"  
  
"Sidhe?" Jackie blinked.  
  
"A member of the elven high court," Llyan explained to her calmly. She bowed slightly to Pete, while still keeping a firm grip on Lisa, "Are you the lord of this place? If so, I pledge all my talents to this island's defense."  
  
"I'm touched," Pete sighed. He shook his head, "C'mon, Jackie. I've talked to Cecelia, she's all ready to run a full diagnostic on you."  
  
"Whee," Jackie answered dryly. "Is Cecelia one of your teammates?"  
  
"Not exactly," Pete answered, "Dr. Cecelia Renes was an X-Man for a while, but before that she was an emergency room surgeon. Shortly after Dr. Moira Mctaggart passed away, she asked Professor Xavier to be posted out here, and he agreed."  
  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to question anyone's competence," Jackie sighed softly, "I'm just a bit nervous about this."  
  
"No reason to be," a gentle voice said calmly. The African-American woman had walked over from the medical wing to meet them, her long white labcoat swirling around her. "I'm Cecelia."  
  
"Hello," Jackie shook the woman's extended hand tentatively. "I'm told you're the head mad scientist of this place?" she asked as the three of them fell into step together.  
  
"Something like that," Cecelia agreed.  
  
"So what's on the schedule?" Pete asked curiously.  
  
"Nothing too nasty," Cecelia said calmly. "We're going to take some sensor scans, both of you running and standing still, and take a blood sample," she explained.  
  
"That's all?" Jackie looked relieved.  
  
"To start with," Cecelia quickly added. "If those tests don't give us some clues, we'll move on to something else, maybe even pass you on to Xavier's school itself."  
  
"Well," Jackie said as they reached the science labs themselves, "let's get started."  
  
Over on the other side of the small island there were fields of barren rocks and hardy grass, the perfect place for at least one of the Excalibur members to play. Dani Moonstar shivered slightly in the cold, bundled up in her heavy jacket as she sat cross-legged on a flat stone.  
  
'How are you doing, love?' Dani sent her thought out through their mind link.  
  
A laugh and Rahne's voice answered, 'I caught a hare.'  
  
'You didn't eat it, did you?' Dani sounded worried.  
  
'No, just caught it and let it go,' Rahne's voice was gently chiding.  
  
'Sorry,' Dani apologized. There had been a few times over the years where the wolf side of Rahne had dominated her. It was rare, but it was something Dani watched for in her partner.  
  
From between the rocks the reddish furred wolf trotted out, and Dani had to smile at her sleek beauty. Muscled, a healthy glow to her fur, and a bounce to her step. So very different from what Rahne had been like after Lady Moira died.  
  
Suddenly, the wolf bounded forward, knocking Dani over onto her back, then proceeded to lick her face. "Hey, stop that," Dani tried to fend her off.  
  
'I thought that you liked a hello kiss,' the amused voice answered in her mind. The wolf backed off a bit, the body blurring between wolf, a mix of wolf and human, and finally becoming a redheaded young woman. "You were getting serious again," Rahne stepped forward to put a gentle kiss on Dani's now slightly damp cheek.  
  
"Well, that's one way of distracting me," Dani laughed as they walked back towards the station together.  
  
"Besides," Rahne smiled up at her, "I thought that you had frozen yourself enough for my sake today."  
  
"It wasn't so bad," Dani shrugged slightly in reply, "I had to put up with much worse back at the reservation."  
  
"It's been a long time since the reservation," Rahne put her head on Dani's shoulder, "and personally, I'm glad you're here."  
  
"Me, too," Dani agreed.  
  
The two went inside, moving towards the kitchen. "I wonder how our new arrival is doing?" Rahne asked as she prepared a cup of hot chocolate for Dani.  
  
"Thanks," Dani smiled as she took it in her hands. She blew on the brown fluid, taking a sip before sighing happily. "That's good." In reply she added, "Cecelia was checking her out, I think."  
  
"Cecelia's good," Rahne said simply, "she should be fine." He cheeks reddened a bit, considering the free show the English woman had given her, "I felt so sorry for her, but.."  
  
Dani chuckled. "It was pretty funny," she agreed.  
  
The two headed out of the kitchen over to the common room that was part of the residential wing. A few large couches, tables, single chairs and even a fireplace were part of the setup. There was someone already there, a figure curled up in one of the chairs looking out one of the windows.  
  
"Hi, Rachel," Rahne smiled at the redhead as she and Dani settled down in one of the couches, setting their cups down on a nearby table.  
  
"Hey," Rachel waved to them casually. It looked like she was thinking about something serious, and not particularly enjoying it very much. The time-traveling X-man was a bit of an enigma to her teammates, and both wondered what deep issues she might be considering. Quietly she looked over at the two of them, "Can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure," Rahne smiled.  
  
"All right," Dani agreed, "but I can't promise I'll answer it."  
  
"Fair enough," Rachel nodded. She sat forward in her seat, ignoring the cup of cooling coffee that sat beside her, "Have you ever been completely blind about something important, only to have someone else point it out to you?"  
  
"Yes," Rahne said crisply, even as Dani hesitated.  
  
"Would you mind telling me about it?" Rachel asked.  
  
Rahne's cheeks colored a bit as she confessed, "Dani's being in love with me. I never realized, not for years."  
  
Rachel had the oddest look on her face, so much so that Dani had to ask, "What?"  
  
"Something like that's happened to me recently," Rachel sighed, "I just haven't figured out what to do about it just yet."  
  
To be continued... 


	11. Ten

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Ten  
  
The alarms rang through the facility, and the members of the team ran out into the halls, dressing quickly. Bolting down the hallway towards the control room Pete Wisdom lead the charge, white shirt and black pants already on, trying to shrug on his dress coat.  
  
"What the bloody hell?" Jacqueline Crighton stumbled out of her temporary bedroom, looking around her irritably at the early wake-up call.  
  
"Status report," Pete ignored her as he barked at the automated alert system, running a hand through his short dark hair to try to tidy it a bit.  
  
"Superhuman incursion, London, England," the computer reported as images appeared on the main monitor. It looked like a team, attacking a facility at the edge of the city, but most of the players didn't look familiar.  
  
"Huh," Dani Moonstar spoke up, the native American looking at the screen thoughtfully, "I recognize Reaper," she pointed out a pale figure with a scythe.  
  
"Codex," Kate spoke up, the oddest tone to her voice. Pete looked over at the metallic woman and was startled to see such an.. irritated look on her face as she glared at the brown haired woman who lead the attacking force.  
  
"You know these guys?" Lisa Garrison asked, the tough blonde pulling her Britannia uniform on. Standing just behind Lisa her Sidhe lover Llyan looked on worriedly.  
  
"I have a bit of information on them," Kate admitted, "from records I studied in the future. They're the Marauders, and that woman," she nodded to Codex, "is their field leader."  
  
"Hold on a moment," Rhane Sinclair blinked, her red hair falling into her eyes, "I thought that the X-Men had defeated them."  
  
"They beat the original team, yeah," Rachel Summers spoke up, her short red hair spiked a bit from sleep, "but Mr. Sinister maintains a wide variety of operatives, and he usually calls the field team the Marauders. Sadly, I don't know much else about them."  
  
"Marvelous," Pete muttered, running his hand through his hair. "Whoever they are, they're thrashing that facility, and we should probably stop them. Kate?"  
  
"I can get us there, no problem," Kate nodded.  
  
"All right, people," Pete looked over his team, "be ready to go in five!" As his teammates scattered he was surprised to see Jackie walk over to him.  
  
"Do you think you could use as hand?" Jackie asked curiously, her pure white hair falling in a wave down her back.  
  
"Wouldn't mind," Pete admitted, "but you sure? With your powers in flux, it could get a bit dangerous to you."  
  
"It's probably safer being with your team than around anyone else right now," Jackie shrugged. A slight grin, "And I'd like to get out and stretch my legs a bit."  
  
"All right," Pete agreed and she was gone in a blur of speed.  
  
A little less than five minutes later they were gathered, ready to go. "I still think this is a ridiculous looking outfit," Jackie muttered, dressed in a borrowed X-Men uniform.  
  
"Llyan is staying here," Britannia said, fully dressed in the Captain Britain uniform, "she says she'll help guard the place, just in case."  
  
Rhane and Dani Moonstar stood to one side, both of them dressed in a matching set of X-Men uniforms. Dani's was done in gold and brown, while Rhane's was gold and red. Right beside them Rachel was pulling the gloves on for one of the traditional black and gold suits.  
  
"Figured out a new codename yet?" Kate asked Rachel curiously.  
  
Rachel shrugged and smiled cheerfully, "Not yet." She looked over at Kate curiously, "Do you have any suggestions?"  
  
Kate raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "You're asking the woman with the codename Widget for suggestions?"  
  
Rachel blinked, then began to laugh.  
  
Pete grinned, 'Nice to see them getting along a bit better.' Speaking up he said, "Everyone ready to go? Then let's move."  
  
Kate rose up into the air, energy flowing out of her artificial body to form the teleportational gateway. One by one they went through, then she leapt herself, the gate snapping shut behind her.  
  
There was smoke in the air as they appeared in the city, dropping down onto the bare road. The side of the building nearby had a large hole blasted into it, and there were figures laying in the rubble. Fires glowed within, and the sounds of fighting could be heard.  
  
"Spitfire," Pete commanded, "do a recon, but don't engage anyone! Just give us an idea what we're up against here."  
  
"Got it," Jackie was gone in a flicker of flame.  
  
"Shall we go," Moonstar asked, a psionic arrow ready to be used.  
  
Wolfsbane shifted, taking on the half-human, half-wolf form that she used in battle. She moved over to the fallen figures, "They're not dead," she sniffed, "just asleep."  
  
In a moment Spitfire was back, "There's eight of them, including Reaper and Codex. One used super strength to clear some rubble in there, and another seems to have energy powers."  
  
"Let's see what we're dealing with," Pete agreed as they headed inside.  
  
Within the facility itself a brown haired woman in a simple black bodysuit directed the others. "Grab the hard-drives first," Codex ordered as she pointed outside, "we need the information on them more than we do the bio-samples."  
  
A tall blonde held her hands over her head, light shining forth for the others. "How long do we have until the cops arrive?" she asked curiously.  
  
"I'm not worried about the police, Blaze," Codex said to the blonde, "I'm more concerned with the Weird Happenings Organization, and the European X-Men organization."  
  
"European X-Men sounds so formal," Pete said as they moved into the room, "you can just call us Excalibur, at least after we finish arresting you."  
  
"Blaze, take out the wall! Bezerker, Reaper, hit them," Codex barked.  
  
Even as Blaze blew a hole in the wall a massive armored figure ran forward, shoulder down to run right into them. Pete barely leapt aside from the charge as Britannia took the hit head on, trying to protect the others.  
  
"Damn he's strong," Britannia muttered, trying to stop them as they punched right through piles of wreckage and out of the building. She tried a punch, discovering he was as tough as he seemed, then settled in for some serious fighting.  
  
"Oh, hell," Rachel used her telekinesis to deflect flying pieces of rubble, trying to protect the others. She focused on the leader, trying to grab her even as the woman tossed something her way. In a moment the air around her exploded into white-noise, sending her staggering, disoriented.  
  
"She knew Rachel was going for her," Pete muttered, using his hot- knives to try to tag Codex, "is she some kind of esper?"  
  
"Been a while, traitor," Reaper attacked with his scythe, moving in on Moonstar before she could dodge. Instantly she was paralyzed, Reaper's power acting to shut her body down.  
  
"Dani!" Wolfsbane cried, driving him back with fang and claw.  
  
"Freelance, Shades," Codex used a communications device on her throat to call out, "Shield and Thermal! Anyone who's free get over here, the rest of you get the targets out, as soon as possible."  
  
"I'm already here," a woman's voice said from empty air as Pete felt a sudden punch right to his gut. An uppercut rocked his head back, sending him staggering backward as the voice added, "And the drives are ready to go."  
  
"Damn it," Jackie cursed as she sprinted across the battlefield, only to cry out in surprise and pain as she slammed right into an invisible barrier. She swayed a moment unsteadily, then just collapsed there unconscious.  
  
"Skids?" Rhane blinked, looking up at the blonde forcefield wielder in pure shock. They had sort of been friends once, way back when they all hung out with X-Factor. "How could you be helping them.. ?" she asked weakly.  
  
"Distracted," Reaper cut her down while she looked away.  
  
'We're being taken apart here,' Pete thought to himself grimly as he threw a burst of hot-knives at the ground at their feet, sending dust and smoke up into the air. "Got you," Pete growled as the invisible girl was outlined for a moment, and he punched her backwards.  
  
"Very nice," the girl shimmered, revealing a black haired young woman in sunglasses. "Name's Shades," she gave him a grin.  
  
"Pull out," Codex commanded, only to pause when she met Kate's eyes. Something seemed to pass between them, some form of recognition. She shook it off as she continued, "We've got what we came for, we can play later."  
  
"Get your people back," a red headed young man ordered as fire danced around his hands, "this is the only warning I'm giving you." With a wave a sheet of fire washed across the room, racing right towards the X-Men.  
  
"Shit," Pete grabbed Jackie as the others moved to grab the nearest person, getting away from the fires as fast as possible. Outside the building Britannia lay there on the pavement unconscious, but apparently otherwise unhurt.  
  
There was a loud rumble, and on the other side of the building a slim fighter craft rose up into the air. It hovered, turning, then in a flash of fire it was gone into the distance, a quickly fading light.  
  
"Do we go after them?" Rachel asked grimly, still swaying a bit from the sonic grenade that she had been hit with.  
  
"No, we're heading back to base to have Cecelia go over the injured," Pete Wisdom said, eyes dark with anger, "then I'm going to come back here and find out what they were after."  
  
To be continued... 


	12. 11: The Marauders

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative The Marauders  
  
Codex put the jet on auto-pilot, sliding her headset off with a soft sigh. "Any sign of pursuit?" she asked her co-pilot calmly.  
  
"The scanners show clear," the redheaded young man said, his eyes narrowed, "and I'm not picking up any of the sort of echoes we'd get from a cloaked craft."  
  
Codex looked over at him, reading his expression. "I'm sorry we had to tangle with the X-men, Rusty," she said, "I wouldn't have brought you with me if I knew."  
  
Rusty Collins shook his head, managing a smile. "Not your fault, boss," he said. A pause, "We knew what we were signing up for."  
  
"Fair enough," Codex got up out of her seat, giving him a smile. "Keep an eye on things here, I'm going to check on the others."  
  
"Got it," Rusty nodded.  
  
Codex left the pilot's compartment, moving into the body of the aircraft where her teammates were seated. Nearest to her was a tough looking blonde, metallic wristbands gleaming in the light. "Hey, Blaze," she nodded.  
  
"Lauren," Siena Blaze looked up with a smile. "You know, it's kind of cool using my powers without blowing up the neighborhood."  
  
"So the dampers we gave you are working fine?" Codex nodded to the wristbands.  
  
"Pretty cool." Siena agreed. She grinned, "We sure showed those X- Men!"  
  
Codex shook her head firmly, "We did all right, but if we run into them again they'll be better prepared. Part of why I got us out of there fast was the longer the fight went on, the more likely it was they might recover."  
  
Siena nodded thoughtfully, "Think we'll run into them again?"  
  
"You can count on it," Codex said as she moved on. Not far away a pale young man sat, cleaning a modified scythe. "Reaper," she said simply.  
  
"Yeah?" Reaper looked up curiously.  
  
"I don't care if you want to pursue a vendetta against Moonstar," Codex said, her voice hard, "but don't let it interfere with your job. Understood?"  
  
"Fair enough," Reaper sullenly agreed. He looked up at her curiously, "You do know they aren't going to take this loss laying down, right?"  
  
"From what I've seen of Wisdom, he'll want to take us down," Codex agreed. She smiled, "Which means as team leader it's my job to see that he doesn't."  
  
That got a laugh from Reaper. "Well, if anyone can it's you," he smiled.  
  
Codex moved off, pausing beside a utterly silent figure. She had the back of a steel helm open, studying the circuitry within intently. From the neck down she wore a simple armored suit, a long gun sitting on the seat beside her. "Freelance," Codex nodded to her.  
  
She looked up, dark blue hair falling into her eyes as she said, "Commander. Suit operating within standard limits, organics are nominal."  
  
Codex sighed softly at the computer-like tone of the armored warrior. "How do you feel?" she tried asking.  
  
"Invalid query," Freelance answered, looking back down at the circuitry in front of her.  
  
Feeling dismissed Codex moved on, considering the girl's odd situation. Found in the ruins of her battlesuit, her body almost as wrecked as the suit was. Nursed back to health she was utterly without memory, only retaining knowledge of the suit's design itself. The only identification they found was the nameplate of the suit, 'Freelance,' so that was what they called her.  
  
"So you're still trying to draw her out, huh?" the casually dressed young man asked her from his seat nearby, pushing sandy brown hair back from his face.  
  
"I always hope," Codex shrugged. She gave him a smile, "I see the transformation back to normal worked, Bezerker?"  
  
"Pretty well," he reached up to touch a simple charm around his neck, engraved with the image of the hammer of Thor. "And like this you can call me Steve."  
  
"Maybe," Codex gave him a cool smile as she moved on.  
  
Up ahead a figure got up from her seat, moving over one. At Codex's curious look the black haired girl with sunglasses smiled, "Shields fell asleep."  
  
Codex looked over to where the little blonde slept soundly, curled up in her seat. "Thanks Shades," she gave the woman a ghost of a smile.  
  
"She's a nice kid," Shades shrugged, her black jeans and shirt matching her hair, "a little too nice for this company, I think."  
  
"She made her choice," Codex answered, "and so far she and Thermal are doing pretty good. We'll just have to keep an eye on them."  
  
"You know that I'd volunteer for that," Shades looked back at the sleeping Shields with an odd sort of longing.  
  
"Don't get too attached to her," Codex reminded Shades quietly, "they may not be sticking around here too long."  
  
"Right," Shades agreed as Codex moved into the back compartment.  
  
Codex sealed the door, using a verbal code and keycard to secure the system. She sat down at the console, setting her hand on a steel plate, There was a prick as blood was drawn, a DNA scan rapidly performed, then the communicator activated.  
  
There was barely a moment of static as the connection was made, then a white faced figure gazed out of the screen at her, "Mission status, Codex?"  
  
"All the harddrives have been recovered, sir," Codex reported. "We acquired 60 % of the biological samples before we were forced to abort at the arrival of the European X-men."  
  
"Excalibur," Mr. Sinister nodded thoughtfully. "The harddrives were the priority, of course. Any operatives lost?" he asked coolly.  
  
"We successfully pulled the entire team out," Codex said with a slight smile.  
  
Mr. Sinister nodded thoughtfully. "What reaction do you expect from Excalibur?" he asked.  
  
Codex frowned slightly, "I studied Mr. Wisdom's profile before we launched. I suspect he'll want a rematch, but his ability to do so will be limited."  
  
"Oh?" Sinister asked.  
  
"He doesn't know who we are or whom we work for," Codex said simply, "at best he might deduce our connection via what we targeted. His contacts in the intelligence community may be a point of concern, but we may be able to turn that to our advantage."  
  
"The cover story we circulated," Sinister agreed, "your team's ties to Weapon X."  
  
"Exactly," Codex agreed. She hesitated, "Sir, why are those harddrives so important?"  
  
Sinister smiled coldly, "The data on them might well be invaluable. They contain hacked information from both the Avengers and Fantastic Four's databases on all the superhumans and other beings they have encountered."  
  
To be continued...  
  
Authors Notes: Thermal and Shields are Rusty and Skids, both from earlier issues of the series X-Factor. Siena Blaze was a member of the Upstarts before disappearing a while back. Reaper was a member of the Mutant Liberation Front, before that organization disbanded. Bezerker, Freelance, Codex and Shades are all original characters, more or less. 


	13. 12

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Twelve  
  
"Medic," Pete Wisdom yelled as the team emerged from Kate's teleport gate into the Muir Island medical bays while hauling their injured companions behind them.  
  
"What happened?" Cecelia turned from her work to demand, the African American doctor quickly kneeling down by the unconscious Moonstar.  
  
"We got our butts kicked, is what happened," Pete growled.  
  
"Is she going to be all right?" Rahne plead, the mutant werewolf's short red hair messy from her repeated transformations.  
  
"My love!" Llyan ran to Lisa's side, the willowy redhead dropping to her knees. "You've been hurt," she cried as a soft glow began to appear around the sidhe lady's hands.  
  
"Got blindsided," Lisa groaned, her short blonde hair falling into her eyes. She smiled gratefully up at Llyan, the color of her face already improving.  
  
"Some kind of temporary paralysis," Cecelia reassured Rahne as she looked over Dani. She looked over at Lisa and Llyan, then frowned at Pete, "What's that?"  
  
"The sidhe have a powerful healing ability," Pete explained patiently, "at least from what I remember from the last time I ran into them."  
  
"Then why doesn't she...?" Jackie groaned, holding her head in her hands. Other than a headache, the white haired speedster didn't look too bad, thankfully.  
  
Llyan shook her head regretfully, "I'm sorry, m'lady. My gift will only work for the one whom I've given my heart and soul."  
  
"Too bad," Pete sighed. He looked at his fallen teammates, then over at Cecelia. "Can you take care of them?" he asked.  
  
"Of course," Cecelia said, helping Rachel get shakily to her feet before demanding, "but where are you going?"  
  
"I'm going to find out who they were and what they were after," Pete said, "then as soon as we're able we're going to go kick some asses." He looked to where Kate stood, "You're with me."  
  
Kate hesitated, looking towards where the shaken Rachel was being helped, but the redhead gave her a smile and a slight nod. "Right," Kate followed Pete out of the medical ward.  
  
"I'm going, too," Jackie said, appearing by Pete's side in a burst of speed.  
  
Pete raised an eyebrow, "You sure you're up to this?" He hesitated a moment before adding, "That was quite a hit you took."  
  
"I'm fine," Jackie said firmly, "I've taken worse, over the years." She smiled grimly before adding, "And I want another shot at that blonde that nailed me."  
  
"Fair enough," Pete nodded. "Conference room," he said, leading the two women behind him. They entered the command center and he waved them to seats before looking at Kate. "I should have pumped you for data before we left," he admitted, "but I got cocky."  
  
"I would have volunteered more," Kate quietly acknowledged, "but there was a risk of affecting the timeline."  
  
"I bloody well hate time travel," both Pete and Jackie found themselves saying, then both looked at each other in surprise.  
  
"So what can you tell us?" Jackie asked impatiently.  
  
Kate walked over to the computer bank where she pulled out a connector cable from her wrist. She plugged in, concentrating for a few moments, and images from the battle appeared on the viewscreen. "Reaper and Siena Blaze," she identified the pale faced figure and the energy wielding blonde, "enemies of the X-Men until they disappeared a few months back."  
  
"Looks like they're back," Jackie said thoughtfully.  
  
"Thermal and Shields," Kate highlighted a redheaded young man and a slightly trashy looking blonde girl, "former associates and wards of the original X-Factor team under the names Rusty and Skids. They were forced to join the Mutant Liberation Front, then were Acolytes under Magneto. They seem to be followers, willing to go with any sufficiently strong leader."  
  
"We know all this," Pete scowled, "who were the new players?"  
  
Kate nodded slightly. The image of a brown haired woman in a simple black bodysuit appeared as she said, "Codex, also known as Diana Ramsey."  
  
"Ramsey?" Pete frowned, it was as if he recognized the name from somewhere.  
  
"She's the elder sister of Douglas Ramsey," Kate said, her face grave as she continued, "the New Mutant known as Cypher. She possesses an advanced form of Doug's own mutant power, the ability of almost instant translation."  
  
"Translation?" Jackie repeated. "But she was anticipating our movements, organizing her teammates," she frowned, "how does that relate?"  
  
"Diana can read a person's body language as easily as printed text," Kate explained, "she knows what you're going to do just by watching you move."  
  
"Mutant powers don't normally repeat that way," Pete noted thoughtfully. He scowled suddenly, "Sinister did something, didn't he?"  
  
"Exactly," Kate nodded to Pete like a teacher to an especially good student, "he grafted the mutant ability from Doug's DNA onto his sister's genes. If they weren't so closely related, it wouldn't have even been possible."  
  
"That's vaguely creepy," Jackie noted.  
  
Kate called up the image of the armored warrior that had defeated Britannia, "Codex called him Bezerker. I don't know who he is," she zoomed in on details of the armor, a symbol at his neck, "but that design appears to be Asgardian."  
  
"I'd better ask Dani about that later on," Pete noted to himself softly, "she might just know something about it."  
  
"The native American girl?" Jackie looked at him in confusion.  
  
"She actually ended up in Asgard and Valhalla for awhile, eventually fighting alongside the Valkyries against Hela," Pete smiled at the stunned look on Jackie's face, "you ask Dani about it some time, it's quite a story."  
  
"I'll do that," Jackie blinked.  
  
"Shades," Kate called up an momentary image of Pete's opponent, "seems to possess some form of invisibility. Sadly, I have no other data on her."  
  
"Could we do a facial comparison with the police databases?" Pete shrugged, "We might just get lucky for once."  
  
"Codex referred to someone called Freelance as well," Kate noted.  
  
"I got that one," Pete sighed. "A couple of years back Black Air dropped me and a team of mercenaries in Latervia to acquire an artifact belonging to Victor Von Doom. Freelance was one of them," he said.  
  
"So who is he?" Jackie asked.  
  
"She," Pete corrected her quietly, "though I never actually saw her take her suit of battle armor off, she sounded female to me. She wears a gray suit that looks almost like a primitive version of Iron Man's gear."  
  
"How powerful is she?" Kate asked.  
  
"She went toe to toe with Doom," Pete said dryly, "and lived to tell the tale. Her, I, Deadpool and a team of top mercs went in there, but only three of us made it out."  
  
"Damn," Jackie murmured softly.  
  
"That's what we have on the Marauders," Kate disconnected from the computer system, "though their objectives remain unknown."  
  
"Then let's go to the scene of the crime," Pete said dryly, "and find out." He looked over where Jackie had gotten out of her seat, "You mind coming along?"  
  
"I'd love to," Jackie said, "though I'm curious as to why?"  
  
"If they won't talk to Pete Wisdom leader of Excalibur and Weird Happenings Organization member," Pete said dryly, "they might be compelled to talk to Lady Jacqueline Crighton."  
  
"Nice," Jackie agreed.  
  
To be continued...  
  
Author's Notes: I don't know if Doug Ramsey actually had an elder sister in the comics. If he didn't, you can just assume she was the black sheep of the family and never got mentioned. 


	14. 13

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Thirteen  
  
Pete Wisdom stood there impatiently, puffing on a smoke as he waited. His black hair fell into his eyes, the long black trenchcoat he was wearing matching his typical black suit. "What's taking so long?" he muttered.  
  
Jackie strode up the hall, her white hair falling around her shoulders. Her clothes were stylish but formal, the English woman looking every inch the noblewoman. "Sorry," Jackie smiled slightly, "but I thought I should dress the part."  
  
Pete smiled wryly, "You do look good." He tilted his head to the side, "But why...?"  
  
Jackie shrugged, her woman's business suit sleek in the bright lights of the hallway. "If they don't talk to a former Black Air agent," she nodded to him, "they might be intimidated a bit by a hereditary noblewoman."  
  
"Not bad," Pete nodded.  
  
Kate Pryde walked towards them, Rachel Summers right beside the older woman. The redhead still looked a bit wobbly from the stun grenade she had been hit with but she was clearly recovering. Kate kept a worried eye on her, her posture gently caring.  
  
"They look cute together," Jackie murmured.  
  
"Yeah, they do," Pete agreed quietly. Once Kate reached them he spoke up, "So how are you doing, Rachel?"  
  
"Feeling stupid about being blind-sided like that," Rachel said dryly.  
  
Kate's brown hair was pulled back neatly, a bit of gray hair mixed in. "Where are you headed?" she asked curiously.  
  
"Back to the site," Pete smiled slightly, "I'll use my cellphone to let you know when we need to be picked up."  
  
"Got it," Kate nodded. The illusion of an older human woman shifted, revealing the silver metal beneath it as Kate rose up into the air, light shining from within her. Waves of energy stabilized, forming a shining portal before them.  
  
"Good luck," Rachel called out as Pete then Jackie disappeared through the portal.  
  
The facility on the edge of London, England was busy with police and emergency services, the damaged wall roped off. A light rain fell down, a police officer looking up with an irritated expression on his face as they approached. "Hold it," the redheaded young man held up a hand, "this is a crime scene."  
  
Pete hit him with a look that made the office step back in surprise. "Pete Wisdom," he held up his identification, "Weird Happenings Organization and representative of the European X-Men."  
  
"Sir!" The young man looked visibly nervous, both by Pete's presence and the cold expression on Jackie's face. "How can I help you?" he managed.  
  
"Who's in charge here?" Jackie asked crisply.  
  
"Inspector Dai Thomas," he said. He smiled at them weakly, "I'll just go get him, all right?" With that he all but fled.  
  
"Nice," Pete smirked.  
  
"Thank you," Jackie nodded. She gave him a thoughtful look and asked, "You recognized the Inspector's name?"  
  
"An old associate of Excalibur," Pete said with a wry smile, "as well as once being a bit of a superhero himself, sort of."  
  
"I remember," Jackie nodded slightly, "he was once a Knight of Pendragon."  
  
The man who approached them didn't look much like a superhero. His brown hair was thinning, he was a bit overweight, and his brown suit and trenchcoat were battered and soiled. Still, meeting his eyes you saw a spark of capability, the surety of a man very good at his job.  
  
Dai scowled, "So who are you two?"  
  
"Jacqueline Farnsworth Crighton," Jackie met the lightly shorter man's gaze calmly, "and Pete Wisdom of the European X-Men, Excalibur."  
  
"Thought you weren't officially joining yet," Pete stage whispered.  
  
"Oh hush," Jackie responded softly.  
  
"So," Dai looked the two of them over as he growled out, "would you care to give a statement about what the hell your team was doing here? We caught your earlier appearance on the video surveillance system."  
  
Jackie had to smile to herself slightly. Dai was clearly unintinidated by either the secret agent or the noblewoman. If it was possible he seemed even more irritated towards Pete, but that might have just been her imagination.  
  
"We responded to the alarm and attempted to stop a group of superhuman agents," Pete said wryly, "however by better teamwork they got the best of us and bolted."  
  
"Huh," Dai took notes, looking at Pete suspiciously to ask, "do you have any idea who these mystery attackers were?"  
  
"Nothing confirmed," Pete shook his head, "but more than a few were superhumans with criminal records."  
  
"Why do I get the feeling you're holding something back?" Dai scowled.  
  
"The only thing that we may be holding back," Jackie spoke up smoothly, "amounts to nothing more than idle speculation." She flashed a slight smile, "The sort of thing that a police inspector really can't use."  
  
Dai still didn't look very happy, but he also accepted he wasn't going to get anything more. "Do you know anything about what was taken?" he switched tracks.  
  
"Their leader seemed pretty concerned with something she called Drives," Pete said dryly, "I'm assuming they were computer harddrives."  
  
"Good guess," Dai nodded towards the building, "they claim valuable data was stolen on those drives, along with biological samples."  
  
"Endteck," Pete read the sign, trying to recall if he'd heard the name before.  
  
"Genetics research company specializing in researching the superhuman genome," Jackie said. Both men looked at her in surprise and she shrugged, "I invested a while back."  
  
"Think it's related to the attack on Muir Island a few weeks ago?" Dai asked them pointedly.  
  
"No," Pete shook his head, "I don't think so. The teams that launched the attacks appear to be different, and the style was rather different as well."  
  
"They snuck in on Muir Isle," Dai nodded slightly, "this bunched just blasted their way in." He looked thoughtful, "Ballsy of them, considering."  
  
"They timed it pretty well," Jackie noted, "they'd probably have been gone before any police forces arrived. The only reason we got here fast enough to engage them was because we have a teleporter on the team."  
  
"So they're both well organized and financed," Dai growled, "if that fighter jet they used to escape in is any indication." He tucked his notebook away, "I'm getting back to work. Try not to interfere with my people while you look around."  
  
"Thanks," Pete nodded as the older man left.  
  
"You two have some history?" Jackie asked as they walked around to the front door of the building, stepping inside out of the rain.  
  
"Ran into him on an op. in London back when I was in Black Air," Pete put his smoke out casually as he continued, "I ended up lying to him about being a police officer."  
  
"Obviously he remembers," Jackie said as the two walked over to the frazzled looking young woman sitting at the reception desk.  
  
"Can I help you?" she asked wearily.  
  
"Jacqueline Crighton," Jackie surprised Pete by taking the lead, "as one of the shareholders I'd like to speak with the president, please." She gave such a scowl that it would have done even the irritable Dai Thomas proud as she continued on forcefully, "I was most displeased to hear about the attack on this facility."  
  
"I'll call him," the receptionist picked up the phone, pressing the button to connect her to the president's office. "Sir, a Jacqueline Crighton is here, claiming to be a stockholder...." she stopped listening. Her face went pale, "Yes, sir!"  
  
"Well?" Pete smiled slightly.  
  
"You can go right in," the receptionist gulped.  
  
Jackie smiled as the two walked down the hallway together. "You know it's occasionally nice to be wealthy," she said quietly.  
  
To be continued.... 


	15. 14

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Fourteen  
  
"Damn it," Dani muttered, the native American forcing herself to sit up, hissing slightly as her stiff body ached.  
  
"Dani," Rahne scolded her, trying to push her partner back down, "you need time to recover, to let the toxin leave your system."  
  
"We don't know if those Marauders are going to try to hit here next," Dani answered seriously, shaking her head so that the long black hair swept around her like a cape. "We have to be ready if they do," she said.  
  
"She's got a point," Britannia said crisply. She pulled her helm off and Lisa ran a hand through her short blonde hair before asking, "Do you have a plan?"  
  
"The start of one," Dani answered with a smile.  
  
"I suppose I can't keep you all in your beds where you belong?" Cecelia demanded, the dark skinned doctor putting her hands on her hips.  
  
"Doesn't look like it," Rahne conceded with a sigh, the little redhead looking visibly worried.  
  
"So what's the plan?" Rachel asked, the slim redheads walking into the medical bay while pulling on a simple bodysuit. It was mostly green with gold gloves, boots, belt and a mask that was resting against her neck.  
  
"Aerial patrols," Dani nodded to Britannia, "while Wolfsbane does ground, keeping in touch with me via mind-link. The rest of us run to help anyone who gets into trouble."  
  
"Simple," Lisa smiled as she pulled her helmet back on, "but sometimes simple is best." She looked over at Rachel, "Can you maintain a mind-link with me?"  
  
"No problem," Rachel said before adding, "and in this outfit you can call me Marvel Girl."  
  
"I would also like to help," Llyan said, the redheaded Sidhe hefting an impressive looking sword in her hands.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind," Dani smiled wryly.  
  
There was a flask of rainbow light, a displacement of air and Widget reappeared from one of her teleport gates. "Pete sent me back," Kate Pryde reported, "he was concerned that the Marauders might try..." she trailed off.  
  
"Dani's one step ahead of you," Rahne said proudly before the group quickly filled her in on the tentative plan.  
  
"Then let's get to work," Kate nodded to Dani, "you're in charge, Moonstar."  
  
"I'm gone," Britannia was out the door, flying down the corridor then out of the building and up into the cloudy skies.  
  
Right behind her Rahne Sinclair ran, her form blurring from human to half wolf then fully to wolf mode. 'I'm outside,' Rahne's thoughts rang in Dani's mind, 'no strange scents so far.'  
  
'Be careful,' Dani sent, knowing that her love was coloring her tone. She turned to the group, "Let's head to the command center."  
  
"Coo," Lockheed the dragon commented, flying around the group of young women.  
  
"Nice costume," Kate murmured to Rachel, looking over the skintight uniform admiringly.  
  
"Thanks," Rachel blushed slightly under the metal skinned woman's gaze, "I thought it was time I made a step forward. I just hope that Marvel Girl doesn't sound too hokey."  
  
"You can carry it off," Kate smiled.  
  
"I'm surprised to see you coming along healer," Llyan said to Cecelia softly.  
  
"I was an X-man once," Cecelia answered dryly, "if we are attacked my forcefield talents may just come in handy."  
  
"Let's hope that we're not," Dani said as they entered the command center, "but I'd rather be too prepared than surprised."  
  
"Amen," Cecelia agreed.  
  
Dani sat down at the main monitor screen, putting a headset on and hitting a few buttons. She heard a cellphone ring, then a clearly irritated voice answered, "Yeah?"  
  
"Nice to talk to you, too, Pete," Dani said dryly, "We've got patrols around the island in case the Marauders try anything. How are things on your end?"  
  
Pete fought back a smile as he thought, 'I bet Dani came up with it on her own, too.' Aloud the black haired man said, "Jackie and I are about to go in and see somebody in charge down here, we should have more information shortly."  
  
"We'll hold down the fort until you get back," Dani said before disconnecting.  
  
Jackie raised an eyebrow as the white haired English woman watched Pete sliding his phone away. "Trouble back on the island?" she asked.  
  
Pete shook his head before saying with a smile, "More like trouble avoided, I think. Looks like Dani has the situation well in hand." They reached the end of the hallway and Pete knocked firmly on the president's door.  
  
"Come in," the clearly nervous voice called out and the two headed in.  
  
"Mrs. Crighton," the older man stood up, adjusting his tie as he continued, "I'm so sorry you have to be visiting us at such a difficult time..." The man got a good look at Pete and trailed off, his face going ghostly white.  
  
"Well, well," Pete took a smoke out and lit it, looking at the man with a carefully blank look, "if it isn't Mouse. Thought we put you out of business years ago."  
  
"Wisdom," Mouse muttered, mopping up his sweat covered brow, "what the hell are you doing here? I thought you went down with Black Air!"  
  
"A friend of yours?" Jackie looked between Pete and the man he called Mouse.  
  
"Not exactly, no. Mouse here was one of the best hackers in the business," Pete drew on his cigarette calmly before continuing, "probably still is. It certainly explains why that strike team went for the hard- drives stored here first."  
  
"We weren't involved with anything illegal," Mouse protested.  
  
"Somehow I doubt that," Pete sighed. He put his hands on the man's desk, glaring down at him as he said, "Now do you want to tell me what's going on or do I have to take steps?"  
  
"You're not with Black Air anymore," Mouse said to him defiantly, "you spook, so I don't have to do what you say."  
  
"Maybe," Jackie spoke up, "but you're running this place as a publicly owned company." She smiled dangerously, "I'm sure if I started putting the word around to some of my fellow stockholders about illegal activities here, they'd sell."  
  
"You wouldn't dare," Mouse whispered.  
  
"Try me," Jackie said, her voice like iron.  
  
Mouse gulped. "After Black Air caught me," he said, "they made me a deal: go to work for them and avoid jail time. It seems they were interested in superhuman genetic data, especially from the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, that whole New York mob."  
  
"You didn't," Pete murmured.  
  
"We found a back door into Reed Richards' records," Mouse said, "probably back when he and the F.F. went missing. We downloaded the data he had on New York's superhumans but it was at that same time Black Air was taken down."  
  
"So you were left with all that data and no superiors to give it to," Jackie murmured.  
  
"Exactly," Mouse nodded glumly, "we were planning to auction off the data privately, but it seems that someone beat us to it."  
  
Pete looked at Mouse thoughtfully, "So how legit is this company?"  
  
"It was originally created as a cover for the hacking," Mouse admitted before saying, "but on the business side it's entirely legit."  
  
"If you shut them down," Jackie said to Pete softly, "a lot of innocent employees who knew nothing about the hacking are going to be hurt."  
  
"I know," Pete answered. He studied Mouse a moment, weighing the man before saying, "We're leaving you, but I want you to understand something." Pete's voice dropped to a deadly purr as he continued, "If I so much as hear a whisper of illegal activity coming out of here, I'll make sure you're tossed into jail and they throw away the key."  
  
Mouse nodded, his face bone pale as he stammered, "Never, you'll never have trouble."  
  
"Good," Pete said coldly, the two of them turning and leaving the office. As they went out into the hall Jackie dialed her cellphone then put it to her ear. "What?" Pete blinked.  
  
"Calling my accountant to sell all my Endteck stock," Jackie said.  
  
To be continued.... 


	16. 15

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Fifteen  
  
"So," Jacqueline Crighton said in summary as the white haired woman walked by Pete's side out of the labs into the light rain, "the Marauders probably have all of the data from Reed Richards on most of the US superhumans."  
  
"Looks like it," Pete Wisdom agreed, "which means Sinister has it." The black haired man in a business suit lit a cigarette grimly, "Wish we knew where he was."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Jackie asked him curiously, her shoulder length white hair blowing around her face.  
  
"We go see Dai Thomas," Pete said crisply, "see if his people have hit and jackpots. Then we head back to the island and see what we can get from the computers and Kate."  
  
"You think that Kate Pryde knows more than she's telling?" Jackie asked as she fell into step beside him, frowning as they strode threw the mud.  
  
"Something, anyway," Pete said with a sigh. "My gut tells me there's something involving Codex, but what I dunno," he said.  
  
"Could be something personal," Jackie offered.  
  
"Huh," Pete blinked then he shook his head as he conceded, "I hadn't thought of that."  
  
They reached the crime scene in moments, the blasted wall now fenced off by yellow police tape. Dai Thomas looked up, the older police officer scowling as they grew nearer. "What do you two want now?" he demanded.  
  
"Any luck yet?" Pete asked.  
  
"And why should I tell you two anything?" Dai demanded.  
  
Pete just shrugged casually. "As two officers of the Crown I'd think of it as a professional courtesy," he said mildly. He tilted his head to the side, "And I'd be willing to share information we get with you, as well."  
  
"Oh really?" Dai looked at him disbelievingly. He took his notebook out as he asked, "Who attacked this facility, then?"  
  
"The Marauders," Pete said and then calmly ran through the list of members, only leaving out the information they had on Codex's true identity.  
  
Dai put his notebook away, nodding slightly. "I suppose you don't know anything else about why they attacked?" he asked curiously.  
  
"Hacking, I think," Pete said, "it appears the computers here were being used remotely to hack secure systems in the US."  
  
"That's as good a theory as any," Dai said thoughtfully, "though we'll also look into our own avenues of inquiry."  
  
"Anything on your end?" Jackie prompted, the lady meeting his eyes calmly.  
  
"We're running the security camera data through our computers," Dai reopened his notebook to another page, "one hit so far. It seems that your 'Shades' is a missing person named Jenny Gibson." He flipped the book shut, "Other than that not much."  
  
"It's a start," Pete said thoughtfully, "thanks."  
  
"Welcome," Dai nodded slightly. He tucked his notebook away as he said, "If you get anything else, let me know."  
  
"Got it," Pete waved as he and Jackie headed off.  
  
"I was a bit surprised you gave him that much information," Jackie said, "it doesn't quite fit with your reputation."  
  
"I'm trying to turn over a new leaf," Pete said dryly, "and most of our information wasn't confirmed anyway." He pulled his cellphone out and hit the speed-dial, waiting for it to be picked up before saying, "Kate, we could use a pick up."  
  
Almost before he finished speaking the first rainbow bands of light began to appear, the shining teleport portal quickly forming in front of them. "You called?" Kate asked, the metal skinned woman offering them a smile.  
  
"Thanks," Jackie smiled as they went through, reappearing on Muir Island.  
  
The Mutant Research Facility stood before them, a complex of building devoted to the study of human mutation. There was a sound and Britannia descended in front of them, touching down even as a furry shape bounded across the rough terrain.  
  
"All clear so far," Britannia calmly offered, the heroine dressed in her usual black costume with the Union Jack design,  
  
Wolfsbane reached them even as she shifted to the half-wolf form then fully to human form. "No unfamiliar scents," Rahne agreed, her red hair messy from the change.  
  
"Then let's go in," Jackie urged, "I'm getting chilled all of a sudden."  
  
Pete looked at her then his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Look out," he yelled to the others even as Jackie ignited.  
  
The white haired woman suddenly blazed brightly, a column of flame dancing around her body as her clothing was quickly consumed. Then as soon as it flared up it died down, the flames disappearing as soon as it came. "Damn it," Jackie cursed, standing there dressed in the yellow and black uniform of the X-Men.  
  
"Wore one under your clothes?" Britannia quickly deduced.  
  
"Cecelia told me the unstable molecules in the uniform wouldn't burn," Jackie explained with a sigh, "I didn't want to give everyone another free show."  
  
Rahne smiled just slightly in memory of the free show even as she said, "Let's get inside, Dani probably wants to know what's going on."  
  
They headed inside as a group, heading for the command center where the others waited for them. Rachel Summers seemed to be drawn to Kate, standing beside the teleporter even as the other members grabbed any available seats.  
  
Dani Moonstar saw the look on Pete's face and the Native American smiled slightly, "You found something, didn't you?"  
  
"You could say that," Jackie smiled slightly.  
  
Pete quickly sketched in the details of their meeting with Mouse, the Black Air connection and talking to Dai, finishing with, "...so it looks like the hard drives the Marauders got away with had genetic data on most of the superhumans in New York."  
  
"At the very least," Kate pointed out, "Reed Richards has had contact with numerous superbeings from around the world as well as off-planet."  
  
"But I thought Sinister was only interested in mutant DNA," Rahne offered tentatively.  
  
Britannia had her helmet sitting on the table in front of her, Lisa Garrison's short blonde hair matted down a bit. "Could be he's branching out?" she offered.  
  
"This Sinister," Llyan said questioningly, the willowy redhead sitting protectively by her lover, "is he such a villain, then?"  
  
"He's a manipulator and a schemer," Dani said seriously, "with a vein of ruthlessness in his nature." She closed her eyes a moment, "I remember the slaughter in the Morlock tunnels, the massacre of innocents he ordered, he is not one to underestimate."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Rachel spoke up to ask them, the redhead standing comfortably at Kate's side.  
  
"We got our asses kicked because we didn't fight as a team," Pete said dryly, "so we're going to start training, first. That way we'll be ready if the Marauders pop up again."  
  
"I intend to be around for that," Jackie firmly said before adding, "I want to pay back whoever knocked me out."  
  
"You'll be welcome," Pete smiled.  
  
The meeting broke up then, Cecelia showing up to take Jackie to her lab for another examination, Pete heading for the computers, running comparisons with the Marauders photos with on-line archives and the others scattering to other duties.  
  
"I don't know if I said this already," Kate noted as she and Rachel walked along the hallway together, "but I like the new costume."  
  
Rachel blushed slightly, "Thanks." She looked up at Kate, gazing at the silver skinned woman, "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately."  
  
"Oh?" Kate smiled slightly, "What about?"  
  
"Us," Rachel answered simply.  
  
To be continued.... 


	17. 16

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Sixteen

Dani Moonstar stood on the rise, the brown and gold clad woman holding a bow at the ready. Her black hair was tied back into twin braids, leather cords holding them fast, and her eyes were attentive. There was a flicker and a arrow of psionic energy materialized, ready to fire.

The first combat drone swooped down and Dani fired, the device exploding in a shower of sparks. Another fired, the laser cutting the stone she had been standing on but she was already on the move. Again and again she drew the bow until the twelve drones were all destroyed.

"Good time," Rahne Sinclair congratulated her as she offered a towel, the redhead's red and gold costume matching the other's design. She smiled gently, "You shouldn't push yourself so hard."

"Reaper nailed me like an rank amateur," Dani took the towel with a softly murmured thanks, "that tends to annoy me." She raised her voice, "End simulation."

The rocky outcropping they were standing on faded away, replaced by a metal lined room, roughly twenty by twenty foot. The Danger Room on Muir Isle wasn't as sophisticated as that of the X-Men but it did the job quite nicely, holograms and combat drones providing a challenge. Originally intended to help patients recover their mutant abilities it hadn't taken much modifications to make it a training center for the team.

"It's been a week since the Marauders attacked," Rahne said as they walked out into the hallway together, "has they been any progress?"

"Pete's still hopeful that he can get a lead on them through his contacts," Dani sighed, "but it's beginning to look like we'll have to wait until they strike again."

Rahne made a face, "I hope not."

The two young women walked into the command center where Lisa Garrison sat, her girlfriend Llyan nearby. "Good morrow," Llyan called out, the willowy redhead giving them a welcoming smile. Her elven ears were only one of the many ways you could tell she wasn't human, yet her gentle friendliness had won most of them over.

"Yo," Lisa waved, the tough blonde had her Britannia uniform on but the black helm sat on the counter beside her. "Been pretty quiet so far," she offered, "the Knights of Pendragon were involved in a dustup in London but they declined our offer of aide."

Dani nodded slightly, "Guess it's better not to push."

"That's pretty much what I thought," Lisa agreed. She smirked and asked, "Did you two hear about Rachel and Kate?"

"What?" Rahne raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"They're sharing a suite now," Lisa confided with a impish grin, "Kate moved into Rachel's room just yesterday."

"Well isn't that interesting," Dani blinked. Rachel had confided to her and Rahne about not seeing someone being in love with her, but she hadn't quite been expecting it to be Kate, somehow.

Rahne's cheeks colored slightly and Dani looked at her questioningly. The little redhead smiled slightly, "I was just wondering how they'll manage, one flesh and the other metal."

"Love finds it's way," Llyan said simply.

"Anyway," Dani shook her head, "where are the others?"

"Pete, Rachel and Kate took off to a pub," Lisa shrugged, "and Jackie is in another session with our resident mad scientist, Cecelia."

"Pub?" Rahne blinked, "At a time like this?"

"From what I've seen of Pete," Dani said thoughtfully, "I doubt it's a pleasure visit."

"Hump," Lockheed the dragon complained from where it was curled up on one of the computers. It looked up irritably then went back to sleep.

There was a bright flare of rainbow light then the sound of a soft thump as the group arrived in the alley through a Widget generated teleport gate. "Sorry about that," Kate Pryde offered her silver hand to help Pete up.

"Right," Pete Wisdom picked himself up from the ground, his black suit only slightly mussed. "And here I thought I had the hang of these landings," the black haired man muttered.

"I'll try to make sure I catch you next time," Rachel Summers laughed. The redheaded telekinetic reached out to brush something off his shoulder, "So why are we going here again?"

Pete just shrugged. "It is one of the best places I know to get information," he explained, "and just about everyone ends up there eventually."

"Well," Kate said as they set out, "let's see who's at the Wolfshead today."

The Wolfshead pub was something of an institution in London. Having been established sometime during World War one, it had originally served a more normal sort of client. But over the years, the strange, paranormal, and just plain odd had slowly begun to frequent it, until it became the watering hole of choice for that sort of person.  
  
As long as you didn't mind a few unidentified bits of protein floating in your beer or the fact that most of your barmates weren't entirely human, it was a great pub. Thick smoke hung in the air, the usual non-smoking rules only rarely enforced there. Rumor had it the last inspector had been eaten, but most thought that was an exaggeration, at best.

"So who do we want to talk to first?" Rachel asked as they cautiously made their way through the busy crowd, careful not to step in any puddles of beer.

As Pete gave a friendly nod to a few of his old friends, and a scowl or two to some old enemies he said, "The person who knows just about everything in a place like this, the barkeep."

The three continued on to the bar, shouldering aside a few patrons to get to the battered oak counter. The redheaded woman nodded slightly to them as she polished a glass, the body armor that covered her from the neck down gleaming beneath the apron she wore.

"Dark Angel?" Kate Pryde blinked in surprise.

The superheroine Dark Angel had fought against the villainy of Mys-Tech a few years ago, and even came to the attention of Excalibur and the X-Men. Once the organization of Mys-Tech had been defeated the Angel had dropped out of sight, and it appeared she had retired to be a bartender.

"Friend of yours, Wisdom?" Dark Angel asked, giving Pete a suspicious look. She smiled slightly, "Suppose she won't be paying off your tab?"

"You guessed right," Kate spoke up quickly and Dark Angel laughed softly.

"Heard about your little tussle with the Marauders," Dark Angel noted as she pulled three beers for them, "bad business, that."

"Part of why I'm here," Pete nodded. He took a drink of his beer then continued, "You've got a good feel for what's going on, they still in London?"

"Some of them," Dark Angel said calmly, "this is home territory to a few of 'em. The rest seem to be contract mercs, working for money."

"Fits with their boss's usual pattern," Rachel noted, "he hired most of the original team from the ranks of mercenaries, too." She took a drink of her beer and shuddered slightly.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Pete encouraged her. He turned back to Dark Angel, "Guess you can't tell me where?"

Dark Angel shook her head, "You know the Wolfshead has to stay neutral, there's no other way we could stay in business otherwise."

"Fair enough," Pete agreed. He turned to look out at the bar crowd casually as he asked, "Is there something you want to tell me, Kate?"

"Huh?" Rachel blinked.

"I don't think Kate knows about Codex just through being a time-traveler," Pete said casually, "am I right?"

Kate took a drink of her beer, her metallic face shadowed in the dim light of the bar. "Codex runs an information gathering service on the side," she explained casually, "I hired her to help me track you and Rachel down, Pete."

"Damn," Pete blinked. He smiled a bit wryly as he asked, "Guess you didn't know that she was connected to the Marauders?"

"No," Kate said with a sigh, "but she has a good reputation in the underworld for maintaining client confidentiality." She gave him a amused look, "Sadly we made contact in public locations, not in some secret headquarters or something."

Rachel shook her head, "You still manage to surprise me, Kate."

"Sorry," Kate sighed.

To be continued....

Authors Note: Another appearance of the Wolfshead pub, a creation of my one of my favorite comic authors Warren Ellis. The character of Dark Angel (originally Hell's Angel before the lawsuit) was created as part of a line of comics for Marvel UK to publish in the US. This along with all the other UK titles disappeared when the 'implosion' of titles from Marvel and DC happened a while back.


	18. 17: Marauders Two

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative

The Marauders: Two

Diana Ramsey came awake almost instantly, the brown haired woman who called herself Codex tensing up slightly as she felt the presence in her bedroom. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes and saw the woman who was standing in the doorway with a casual smile.

"Breakfast is ready," Jenny Gibson said simply, her trademark shades covering up her light sensitive eyes. Oddly she wore pajamas too, the sunglasses looking even more odd on the black haired young woman.

"Thanks," Diana swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up, not really caring that she was just wearing bra and panties. "I thought it was my turn to cook?" she asked her as she looked around for her sweatsuit.

"I kept you up helping me with my correspondence courses," Jenny shrugged, "seemed only fair to let you sleep in this morning."

"It's not that hard for me," Diana answered dryly, swiftly pulling her pants on. She followed Jenny out of the room as she got her sweatshirt on. Voice a bit muffled by the cloth she asked her, "So is Freelance up yet?"

"Yeah," Jenny agreed, "I had to scold her about doing battlesuit maintenance on the kitchen table again, though."

"I'll try to talk to her," Diana sighed as they walked through the lower floor of the converted warehouse towards the kitchen.

The warehouse was a compromise that Diana had made between giving her people some independence and having them be available when they were needed. The interior had been torn out and refurbished into something that resembled a apartment building, two floors of suites plus a large common room, dining area and a well stocked kitchen. Not all the team members lived here full time, of course, but the majority did.

"Commander," Freelance said in greeting, looking up from where she calmly sat waiting at the table, her blue hair wet from a shower. Her skin was oddly pale, normally concealed beneath her namesake armored suit.

"You can call me Diana, you know," she offered as she headed straight for the pot of coffee. Freelance just blinked, gazing at her calmly, Diana poured herself a cup with a sigh, looking a bit surprised as she sipped. "This is better than usual," she noted, "who made it?"

"That would be me," Rusty Collins answered her from where the redheaded man stood by the fridge, pouring out cups of orange juice for the others as he added cheerfully, "I tried adding just a bit of cinnamon this time."

"Keep it up and I'll make you the official coffee boy," Diana chuckled as she took another drink, savoring the taste.

"He's good at it," Skids agreed, the blonde carefully setting out the forks and dishes. Unable to entirely shut down her slippery personal forcefield she always had to be cautious or things would slip right out of her grasp.

"So what do you two think of our happy abode?" Jenny asked them curiously, smoothly flipping the pancakes that were cooking on the stove. She was a very good cook, especially considering how long she had lived rough out on the streets.

"Surprisingly comfortable," a smiling Rusty quietly admitted, "especially considering how run down looking it is outside."

"Protective coloring," Diana shrugged casually.

"So how many of us are living here?" Skids asked curiously.

"We five," Diana answered, "and Steve stops in pretty regularly for the food. Blaze and Reaper both maintain suites in different parts of London."

"Why does Blaze call you a different name?" Rusty asked.

Diana looked a bit uncomfortable as she said, "I first contacted her under an alias, and she doesn't let me forget about it."

"Foolish," Freelance surprised them by quietly remarking, the dark blue haired girl sitting quietly at her seat.

"Well," Rusty put the cups of juice down at each place as he said, "I just wanted to say thanks for giving us rooms here."

Diana flashed a smile as she drawled, "Trust me, it's worth it to have you all available when I need you for missions."

Jenny shook her head with a smile, setting the plates down for everyone. "Like you don't do charity cases, boss," she remarked as they sat down to eat.

"Oh?" Skids asked as she dug into her pancakes eagerly.

"Jenny," Diana frowned.

Jenny looked up, black sunglasses gleaming as she said with a smile, "She's been known to take in lost sheep at times, but I can't really say more."

Diana shook her head, "You have a big mouth at times."

"I thought it looked about average sized," Freelance noted quizzically.

"Figure of speech," Jenny offered an explanation to her cheerfully.

"Ah," Freelance went back to eating robotically.

They finished up breakfast in a less than comfortable silence, Diana volunteering to stay and help Jenny clean up. Rusty and Skids walked down the hall together, waiting until they reached their room before beginning to talk.

"So what do you think so far?" Skids asked Rusty as she flopped down to sit on the side of the bed, bouncing on the soft mattress.

Rusty ran a hand through his reddish hair, "It's almost too good to be true, honestly. We're getting well paid and offered a place to stay in return for using our powers for Diana."

"And for whoever she's working for," Skids reminded him.

"It bothers you, not knowing who she reports to?" Rusty asked her with a sigh as he sat down beside Skids, covering her hand with his.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Skids narrowed her eyes, "However nice she may seem Diana's a professional mercenary, taking jobs from the highest bidder."

"Which is exactly what we resolved to be," Rusty reminded her. He puffed out a sigh, "After our tenures with the Mutant Liberation Front and Magneto's Acolytes there's no way we'd be welcome at Xaviers again. We have to be ready to make our own way in the world."

Skids sighed softly, laying her head on his shoulder as she said, "I know."

Back in the kitchen Diana rinsed a dish off, setting it in the drying rack. "If you want to tell your own story go for it," she lectured, "but Freelance's story is her own business."

"Sorry boss," Jenny sighed, scrubbing a plate clean then passing it over.

Softening her voice a bit Diana asked, "Do you think that you want to try to make contact with your family? I could arrange a neutral meeting place...."

"No, thanks," Jenny answered firmly.

"They're worried about you," Diana said softly, "my sources say they've even posted a reward for any information about you."

"They could have been worried about me when my invisibility first manifested," Jenny gave her a pained smile, "instead of throwing me out of the house."

Diana put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder as she quietly said, "I won't push."

"You never do," Jenny answered with a sigh. She washed another dish, "So what's the word on our two new recruits?"

"I think they'll end up staying," Diana answered her calmly, "they'll debate it awhile but I'm pretty certain that they'll stay on."

"Good," Jenny flashed a grin, "it's been hard enough trying to get a date around here, some new blood will make it interesting."

"Jenny!" Diana scolded.

To be continued...


	19. 18

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Seventeen

Cecelia Renes paused a moment in her paperwork, the African-American former X-Man standing in her labcoat in front of one of the main computers. "It's about time you got here," she looked up to say, "Polaris."

"You do know the risks I'm taking just being here," the green haired young woman said with a frown. "So what was so urgent you needed to call me?" Polaris asked.

The taller, brown haired woman behind her looked around warily, clearly ready for a fight. "Considering I'm a wanted woman," Plasma said, "this is the last place I want to be."

"Plasma, Polaris," Cecelia smiled, "there's a good reason, trust me." She waved towards the computer, "When the Brotherhood attacked Muir Island they left the records in disarray, and I've been working on sorting the DNA files."

"And?" Polaris raised an eyebrow.

Cecelia gave her a frown, "In trying to find out which sample belongs to who, I had to do a great deal of DNA cross-matching, and something unusual has turned up." A deep breath, "You and Magneto are related, possibly even parent/child."

There was a moment of dead silence then Plasma spoke up, "You're sure?"

Cecelia nodded, "The similarity in their powers doesn't account for what I found, they're clearly closely related."

"God," Polaris limply collapsed, Plasma moving to catch her girlfriend, "I'm related to HIM?!" A moment of silence then soft, bitter laughter, "Well, maybe Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and I can compare notes, or something."

"You'll be all right," Plasma murmured softly, "you're tough."

"If there's anything I can do to help," Cecelia started.

"I think you've probably helped enough," Polaris cut her off. She softened her tone a bit, "In a way I'm glad to know, but still...."

"I almost wish that we had a genetic sample available from the villainess Zaladane, too," Cecelia said thoughtfully, "it would be very interesting if we could actually confirm her claim that she's really your sister."

"Who?" Plasma blinked.

"A villainess who stole my magnetic powers at one point," Polaris said to her grimly. She looked to Cecelia, "It'd be very ironic if we were both the daughters of Magneto, considering that he killed her in battle years back."

There was a sound by the door, then Jackie opened the door. "All right," the white haired woman said irritably, "I'm here for my next round of tests." She blinked in surprise at the two women, "Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"We're just visiting from the mainland," Plasma improvised quickly, "for a short medical consultation."

"Sorry," Cecelia went along, "we'll be finished shortly."

"Take your time," Jackie said heartily, quickly leaving the room with a smile.

"We'd better get out of here before the rest of Excalibur arrives," Plasma frowned, reaching out to gently take Polaris' hand.

"Thank you for the information," Polaris looked at Cecelia as she and her partner went to go, "if there's anything we can do in return, let us know."

"I'll do that," Cecelia nodded.

Plasma and Polaris slipped out of the other door into the genetics lab, going the way that they had come in. Both were wanted by the law because of their past involvement with the latest incarnation of the Brotherhood, though thankfully the former X-Man and her lover seemed interested in turning over a new leaf.

"Now I need to track Jackie down for her next series of tests," Cecelia murmured, walking out to try and find the reluctant young woman. Heading over to the personnel wing she found herself smiling slightly, feeling oddly glad to be here.

"Healer," Llyan stood in the common are with a sword in her hands, moving smoothly through the patterns of combat. The elven woman looked surprisingly delicate but there was a core of strength to the alien beauty.

Cecelia nodded her greetings, "Did Jackie run by?"

"Like one fleeing for her life," Llyan gave her an amused smile.

"Great," Cecelia chuckled. She watched Llyan move, the sword swinging gracefully through the air and said, "You're really good at that."

Llyan reached the end of her pattern, sliding the blade into it's sheath with a soft hiss. "Someday my life may depend on these skills," she explained simply. She looked thoughtful, "I think Jackie said she was going outside for a run."

"Thanks," Cecelia waved as she moved on, deciding to stop in to the monitor room before she headed outside.

Dani Moonstar sat at the communications array, her long black hair falling in a glossy wave down her back while Rahne Sinclare padded about the room in her wolf form, the reddish fur matching her short hair. They seemed deeply comfortable with each other, this human and wolf, almost like some kind of soulmates.

"Cecelia," Dani looked up with a smile, "did Jackie escape again?"

"Curses, foiled again," Cecelia agreed.

Rahne's form blurred slightly, her wolf body stretching out and swiftly changing until the young Scottish woman stood there dressed in her familiar yellow and black uniform. "Is everything all right?" she asked curiously.

"Fine," Cecelia nodded. She looked over at Rahne curiously, "You haven't been having any difficulties with your powers since they returned?"

"Everything seems to be working fine," Rahne smiled.

"So did you talk to Pete yet?" Dani asked Cecelia.

"Trying to track him down is fun," Cecelia made a face. "All I want is to run some physicals on the team, so that we're ready in case of another emergency."

"I'll try telling him," Dani shrugged, "but we'll probably have to wait until he gets back from the Wolfshead pub."

"This has to be one of the only superteams where the leader goes looking for information by hitting a pub," Cecelia said wryly as she excused herself.

There was a storm raging outside, another of the seeming endless stream of storms that hit the island during the fall. Standing near the building Cecelia tried to pierce the gloom, the cold wind biting through her coat and clothing. Finally she saw a flash of fire and Jackie emerged from the storm, trailing a bit of flame in her wake.

"Ah, you found me," Jackie said, coming to a halt in front of Cecelia. Steam rose up from where she was standing, the friction of her passage having generated incredible heat.

"Once again," Cecelia agreed wryly. They walked inside together, the slightly taller Jackie leading the way. "I've got a new theory on your thermal problem."

"Oh?" Jackie looked over at her curiously.

"From what I can tell you absorb the thermal energy from friction," Cecelia lectured, "and convert that into extra energy for your running."

"With you so far," Jackie agreed.

"So it's possible that your body has become more efficient and is no longer needing so much energy," Cecelia continued, "and is releasing that energy as fire."

"So what do we do about it?" Jackie asked.

"That's the question," Cecelia agreed. She looked thoughtful, "But if you could consciously access that thermal ability, it would certainly come in handy."

To be continued....

Authors Note: this is a direct tie in with my 'Adventures of Shadowcat and Rogue' series, set after the end of that title. The recent revelation in the comic books that Polaris was Magneto's biological daughter was something I just had to address in some form.


	20. 19

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Eighteen

Another explosion ripped through the quiet of the London night, wood and fragments of stone flying as the sky lit up in red and orange. Pete Wisdom scowled as he and Rachel Summers took shelter nearby, the black haired older man casually hammering unconscious one of the soldiers who had launched the sudden attack.

"Black Air," Pete scowled, taking in the stylized black star symbol on the vest of the military uniform of their captive. "I thought that the Weird Happenings Organization shut them down?" he continued, his tone bitter.

"Looks like they missed some," Rachel sighed, the redhead poking her head over a broken section of wall to get a look at the situation.

A pair of transport craft were parked on the street, modified military helicopters that had released nearly thirty troopers to surround the convoy of unmarked vehicles that had come up the lane. Each of the black and red garbed troops carried a type of heavy blaster, power connections feeding into backpacks they wore.

"Huh," Pete poked at the weapon their unconscious opponent carried, "looks almost like Advanced Idea Mechanics tech, a multifunction energy projector Black Air seized a few years back that they weaponized."

"Movement," Rachel said seriously.

"Damn," Pete growled, recognizing the politician that was being forced out of her car by the troops. "Looks like we can't wait for Widget to bring back help," he said grimly.

"Got a plan?" Rachel asked, coiling her body to move and silently wishing that she wasn't dressed in a skirt.

Pete loosened his tie, his black suit fitting his serious manner. "Protect the minister and his people." he said simply, "I'll distract the troops."

"Alone?" Rachel blurted, but Pete was already on the move.

Wisdom splayed out his fingers, firing from each one of the hotknives that were the manifestation of his mutant nature, the solar temperature projections arching unerringly right into the backpacks of the ten men who were nearest to the captives. Explosions sent men and equipment flying as the stunned troopers tried to get their bearings, Pete moving to get his next target.

"Wow," Rachel managed before taking off, telekinetically racing to the man who was the target of the attack. Forming a dome around them for protection as they landed she didn't recognize the older man, though that didn't really surprise her. "Are you all right?" she asked, addressing both him and his companions.

"I think so," he managed, a bit of gray coloring his temples, his bodyguards and assistants chorusing similar responses.

Pete threw his next bursts of hotknives into the 'copters engines, both vehicles fireballing even as the first bolts of energy weapons raced towards where he stood. The crumbling section of wall he dodged behind shattered as it absorbed the fire but it gave him just enough time to fire hotknives into the ground nearby another group, bombarding them with fragments of the superheated rock. With cries of alarm and pain another five or so men were downed, leaving a group of very shaken Black Air operatives to try and reorganize.

'Remind me not to underestimate Mr. Wisdom,' Rachel thought, realizing that in a matter of moments he had managed to defeat over half of the attackers. 'Of course, that still leave the other half,' she added grimly.

Above the battlefield there was a rainbow distortion in the air, and the members of Excalibur dropped into place like a well oiled machine. Dani Moonstar took point, psionic arrows ready with Wolfsbane by her side. Britannia swiftly took to the air, Spitfire racing to one side even as Widget collapsed the gate, the silver skinned woman looking ready for battle.

With a smile Pete rose from cover, his black tie and suit jacket blowing in the wind. "Gentlemen," he said clearly, "as you can see, my reinforcements have arrived. Your escape route is gone, you're out-gunned and the chances are your employers are not going to save you." He smiled grimly, "We can do this the easy way or hard way, your pick."

The Black Air troops looked at each other, then at the eagerly waiting members of Excalibur, then one by one they took off their weapon packs and surrendered peacefully. Soon local police forces rounded them up, carting them away and starting to clean up the mess.

"I'm impressed, Mr. Wisdom," Spitfire commented after Rachel filled the group in on Pete's one man battle against the Black Air troops, the white haired young woman still dressed in a borrowed X-Men uniform.

"Haven't had to do that in a while," Pete answered gruffly, "didn't miss it much."

There was a disturbance and a heavily built officer made his way over to where they stood. Dai Thomas smiled wryly, "You lot just can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?"

"We were in the area," Rachel shrugged.

"Well, thanks," Dai conceded. He smiled grimly, "If those bastards had gotten hold of the minister of Defense, I think we'd all be in trouble."

"So were they doing this on their own," Dani asked, the native American frowning slightly, "or as mercenaries?"

"That's something we'll be asking," Dai made a face as he conceded, "though I doubt we'll get very much of an answer."

Britannia dropped from the sky, her Union Jack designed uniform beaded with moisture. "No sign of other forces," she reported, "if they did have someone else out here they probably scampered before I hit the air."

Pete nodded grimly before looking to Dai, "Is there anything else we can help with?"

"No," Dai shook his head, "I think this is all pretty much open and shut. I'll contact you on the island if anything else comes up."

"All right people," Pete yelled to the team, "let's move out!"

Widget floated a few inches off the ground as the rainbow energy contained within her expanded outward, forming the gateway that would carry them home. Quickly they leapt through. disappearing only to leave a twinkling of light in their wake.

Outside of the Muir island research station the team dropped onto the rough stone before hurrying indoors. "I'm glad you're all right," Kate said softly to Rachel, the silver skinned woman smiling down at her gently.

Rachel took her hand, "I was perfectly safe." She tossed a scolding look at Pete, "In fact, he kept me a little too safe."

Pete looked a bit sheepish, "Old habit." He frowned slightly, "And why did it take so long to get help, by the way?"

Rahne shook her head, the redheaded werewolf looking grim, "We were having a bit of a spirited debate when Widget arrived."

Before Pete could ask Dani continued, "It seems that Cecelia had two former members of the Brotherhood, Polaris and Plasma, on the island without telling anyone."

They entered the common room where Cecelia was waiting, the African American swiftly looking them over for injuries, "Is everyone all right?"

"Good enough," Pete answered. He looked over at Cecelia and asked, "Were Polaris and friend here for a medical consultation?"

"Yes," Cecelia put her hands in her labcoat pockets.

"This place is a medical facility first and foremost," Pete reminded his teammates, "and Cecelia is the Chief Medical Officer on the island. Therefore, that was her call to make."

"That puts us in our place," Britannia took her helm off, shaking her head.

"Now," Pete said briskly, "could I talk to you for a moment, Cecelia?"

Cecelia and Pete left the room, walking towards the medical wing together. "Thanks for backing me up," Cecelia said softly.

"You were spectacularly lucky that didn't blow up in your face," Pete said to her harshly. He puffed out a breath, "The only reason that I supported you is that Xavier gave you this job and I generally trust his judgment."

Cecelia winced, "Understood."

To be continued...


	21. Chapter 20

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Nineteen

Jackie Crighton had to smile slightly as the white haired young listened to Rachel's exciting story. "I almost can't believe that Mr. Wisdom had it in him," she admitted, having changed out of the usual borrowed X-men uniform and into more casual clothes.

Rachel and Kate sat together on a couch nearby the fireplace in the common room, sharing some cocoa before going to bed. They made an unusual looking couple, the redheaded teen and the silver metal skinned woman, but somehow they just fit. Jackie watched them, largely uaware that her own expression showed a mix of envy and regret.

Rachel chuckled, "I know , Pete does spend a fair bit of time smoking and complaining, but he was really good out there."

"Why were you asking?" Kate asked curiously, the living technology that made up her face tasking on a curious look. She lookerd like a statue that came to life,. coated in circuitry and wires, and it could be just a bit unnerving to those who first met her.

Jackie felt a faint bit of color appear on her cheeks, "Just curious, I guess." She cleared her throat, "Mr. Wisdom is a interesting man."

There was a slightlly impish smile on Rachel's face as she said, "Yeah, I guess he is. It heps that he doesn't much like talking about his activities in the old days, too."

Kate snuggled there with Rachel, the two clearly enjoying each other's presence. "Has our resident mad scientist made any progress?" she decided to change the subject, taking pity on the clearly embarased woman..

"Some," Jackie admitted as she drank from her own hot cup of cocoa. "It appears my body is storing up thermal energy until it explosively releases," she quietly explained, "she thinks with practice I can use it at will."

"That would be helpful," Rachel noted. She studied the white haired woman, "I hesitate to ask, but do you think you might be sticking around once your powers situation is solved?"

"You don't think that I'll be outstaying my welcome?" Jackie asked them with a charming sort of nervousness.

"You've fit in pretty well so far," Kate answered Jackie firmly, "and I'm pretty sure Pete would be glad to have you." She chuckled softly as she added, "Not to mention having more practical experrience than most of us here."

Jackie considered a moment the smiled slightly. "You know, I think I'll go give Pete the good news," she said, excusing herself.

"Well isn't that intersting," Rachel finally murmured after Jackie had gone.

"Don't assume too much," Kate chided her gently. She smiled as she continued, "Just because she's curious about Pete doesn't mean anything."

"Still," Rachel smirked.

Largely unaware that she was the topic of amused speculation Jackie walked the halls of the Muir Island Mutant Research facility, first heading to the kitchen to drop off her now empty cup then over to the command center, the place that Pete was most likely to be hanging out in between missions or if he hadn't anything better to do. Sitting by the main computer screen Pete was looking up at the image of Reed Richards, thge two talking softly.

Reed, also known as the adventurer Mr. Fantastic and leader of the Fantastic Four, had a faint frown on his face, He wasn't the oldest looking man, though premature grey lightened his temples, and his face was still unlined. "I'm glad to say we've dealt with the security break that let Mouse hack into our systems," he explained, blue jumpsuit crisply clean.

"Did you figure out the problem?" Pete asked, lighting a cigarette.

"The hackers used our link with SHIELD's computer system," Reed said grimly, "they have good security but not up to the level the Avengers of Fantastic Four have. I've informed Nick Fury about it, and they hope to patch the holes."

Pete nodded grimly, picking up his coffee and slurping on it. "Have you had any luck finding out what the hackers got?" he asked.

Reed brightened a bit, "That I can help you with. Our system logged the file sections they went for, I'll email you a listing of what they got."

Pete nodded then took a bracing breath before he asked, "Anything major I need to be worried about their having?"

Reed hesitated, then with a sigh said, "They accessed genetic data that I compiled on Franklin, my son, as well as Rachel Summers."

The look on Pete's face was priceless as he digested that little piece of information. "So whoever the Marauders work for have the data on Phoenix and a little boy who's powers are already right off the scales..." He visibly shook himself, "You should know that a police officer here will be contacting you, a Dai Thomas."

Reed actually smiled wryly as he replied, "I already spoke to him by phone. He's a fairly unique person, I think."

"Good at his job, though," Pete replied. Noting that Jackie was waiting nearby he excused himself, promising to update Reed on any further developments.

"Sorry for interrupting," Jackie said as she walked over to his side, silently glad that the vents cleared the cigatette smoke away.

Pete smiled up at her, "Actually I'm glad to be rescued." He made a face, "Richards is a good man but I didn't need another techno-babble filled explaination."

"He does that often?" Jackie asked, taking a nearby chair.

"The few times I've met him on the job, yes," Pete agreed. He crushed his cig out as he contrinued, "So what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"I was wondering if you'd object to me staying on with the team after Cecelia is done with me?" Jackie asked confidently.

Pete looked over at her in surprise then he visibly brightened, "Really? I'd be glad to have you aboard, Jackie."

"Thank you," Jackie grinned.

"You'd better get ready for your teammates to start dressing you," Pete said impishly after a few moments thought..

Jackie blinked at him. "Huh?" she asked intelligently.

Pete grinned, "You can almost be sure that someone, probably Rachel, is going to be redesigning your costume, now that you're staying on."

Jackie had to admit he had a point, especially considering her usual red and gold costume dated back to world war two. "I hope they don't try anything too radical," she sighed, "I've seen some of the X-Men's costumes these days."

"They aren't that bad," Pete said mildly.

"I've seen the White Queen's uniform," Jackie said dryly.

Pete actually laughed, "Okay, point. But I think that she's a special case."

"I'd say," Jackie chuckled. She studied him thoughtfully a m,oment, "At least you've managed to avoid wearing any costumes."

Pete snorted, then drank a bit of his coffee. "Back when I was in Excalibur the first time I told 'em that I wouldn't wear one, thanks," he shrugged.

Jackie found herself saying, "Oh I don't know, I'd think you'd look pretty god in skin tight spandex." A blush colored her cheeks and the white haired young lady nearly clapped her hand over her mouth, she was that embarassed.

"Oh no," Pete shook his head, "I can't imagine wearing that sort of thing in an English winter." He shuddered visibly, "A man could lose important bits."

Jackie chuckled softly.

Pete grinned back, his expression mostly impish. Finishing off his coffee he said, "You want to go see if there's any leftovers from dinner?"

"Sounds like an idea," Jackie smiled as the two walked out together.

To be continued...


	22. Chapter 21

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Twenty

Lisa Garrison groaned softly as hands massaged the blonde's tense shoulders. "Thanks love," she managed, "it's been a rough day."

Llyan gently stroked her skin, the willowy redhead nearly sitting on her shoulders. "What happened?" the sidhe asked, her smile gentle.

"Bezerker from the Marauders," Lisa revealed, "we got a tip about him being in London and Pete got a few of the team together." She sighed, "He's a lot tougher than I had expected, even from last time we fought."

"Whomever grated him his abilities is a powerful patron," Llyan noted as she worked gently on Lisa's lower back, "and with everything that has been going on with Asgard..."

"Huh?" Lisa blinked.

"There are rumors in the other realms that Asgard will fall," Llyan said gravely, "if that is so those who were touched by it's power might become even more powerful."

"There's a unpleasant thought," Lisa sighed.

"You and your friends are champions and warriors," Llyan said as she finished, curling up beside Lisa on the bed, "whatever comes you will deal with it."

Lisa chuckled, "Well, I'm glad you're confident."

Llyan kissed her gently, then a little harder. "You have given me much cause, m'love," she purred. She batted her eyes, "Would you care to show me your prowess once again?"

Lisa laughed as she pulled the slim woman to her, "Oh yes."

Kate Pryde shook her head as she heard Lisa and Llyan getting busy next door. "Those two are almost insatiable," she commented, her silvery skin gleaming.

Rachel Summers lay there beside her, trying to catch her breath beneath the sheets. "And you aren't?" she asked wryly.

Kate snickered, "Well, yes."

Rachel turned over, red hair falling into her eyes. "You know, I wish you had told me about how you felt years ago," she said softly.

"Oh?" Kate asked curiously, stroking a hand along Rachel's cheek.

"I never realized you were so skilled," Rachel said softly, a blush coloring her cheeks. "Were you ever," she hesitated, "with someone else?"

Kate looked up towards the ceiling, her thoughts drifting a bit. "Not as often as you might think," she answered honestly, "I just have a very vivid imagination."

Rachel blushed faintly. "One hell of a imagination," she conceded.

"Why," Kate looked at Rachel impishly, "were you expecting me to have torrid affairs?" Impishly, "Or hoping to hear about some? I could always make something up..."

"No, that's not necessary," Rachel said firmly.

Kate just laughed.

Pete Wisdom scowled as he walked outside, looking up at the starry sky. It wasn't that he minded Kate and Rachel being happy together, but listening to them together occasionally reminded him a bit too much of when he had been with the Kitty of this era. Even worse it reminded him of why they had broken up, all the stupid arguments that led to it...

"Well, at least you smoke those damn cigarettes outside," Cecelia Renes muttered, the African American doctor walking up in her labcoat.

Pete took a drag, tempted a moment to send a puff of smoke towards her. "What can I say," he shrugged, "I'm polite, sort of."

"That and it gives you a good excuse to be left the hell alone," Cecelia said perceptively.

"Well, yes," Pete admitted. He gave her a look, black hair falling into his eyes as he asked, "So why are you bothering me tonight?"

"Because you have been dodging your appointment for a physical," Cecelia said dryly, "do I have to drag you into the infirmary?"

"Why do I need one?" Pete asked weakly.

Cecelia growled, "Wisdom, mutant powers are evolving constantly. If your powers do shift I need a baseline to track it."

Pete sighed softly, "When do you want me in there?"

"Well I'd normally suggest now," Cecelia yawned softly, "but I'm too tired." She gave him a smile, "I'll give you a reprieve till tomorrow, all right?"

"Thanks," Pete sighed.

"You'd better show up," Cecelia added, "or I'll ask Jackie to do a super-speed search of the island for you."

Pete nodded reluctantly, "You would, too. All right, I'll be there."

Cecelia smiled, "Good." She paused, "So how did your dinner with Jackie go?"

Pete nearly spat his cigarette out I surprise, but he managed to restrain himself. "The rumor mill in this place startles me at times," he muttered.

Cecelia chuckled softly, "Well?"

"It went just fine," Pete said with as much dignity as possible, "until we got that emergency call for Bezerker's rampage." He scowled as he took a furious drag then said, "An' to be honest that stinks to high heaven."

"Bezerker's rampage?" Cecelia looked over at him thoughtfully.

"Nobody except maybe Juggernaught runs around rampaging like that anymore," Pete pointed out, "no, if he was caught that easy he wanted to be caught."

"Of course the question of why rears it's ugly head," Cecelia noted.

"I'm going in with Rachel to try to interview him in the morning," Pete shrugged, "maybe we'll get some answers then."

Down below the young man known as Bezerker sat in a modified containment cell, his sandy brown hair falling into his eyes. Steve waited patiently as he listened to the sounds of the island, watching thoughtfully as he toyed thoughtfully with the pendant around his neck.

Finally Steve pressed down on a back tooth, wincing a bit at the sensation. "You hear me boss?" he murmured quietly.

He didn't hear Codex's voice, it almost felt like it rattled around in his bones. "Where have they got you?" she asked quietly.

"Detention cells beneath the island," Steve kept his answers short, the mini-transmitter wasn't powerful enough for sending long talks.

"Has Wisdom interviewed you?" Codex demanded.

"No," Steve answered.

"What the hell is the man thinking?" Codex muttered. A pause, "Give him the information we discussed then signal again, we'll bust you out."

"Why are we doing this?" Steve had to ask.

"Because Sinister lied to us about this job," Codex answered him grimly, "and I don't take that from anyone." She gentled her tone, "Good luck, Codex out."

'Back to waiting till morning,' Steve thought glumly. "Hey," he yelled out to the hallway, "Is there any chance of getting fed?"

To be continued...


	23. Chapter 22

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Twenty-one

Pete Wisdom strode down the hallway, the black haired older man quietly complaining to Rachel the whole time. "Then Cecelia decides I haven't been poked and prodded enough," he waved a hand, "an' tells me to drop my pants!"

"Poor Pete," Rachel said, the redheaded young woman looking visibly amused at hear about his various woes.

"Your sympathy overwhelms me," Pete chuckled, the two of them reaching the keypad for the detention block beneath the island. He tapped in the proper sequence of numbers and the heavy door groaned open, lights coming on automatically.

"If you hadn't farted around with keeping your appointment for so long," Rachel pointed out to him mercilessly, "she probably would have just kept things simple."

"Fair enough," Pete conceded as the two of them continued on to the cell that was holding their involuntary guest.

The man called Bezerker looked up from his breakfast, finishing off a bite of sausage and toast. Out of his suit of mystical battle armor he looked a bit smaller, his sandy brown hair falling boyishly into his eyes. "About time you got down here," he grumbled, taking a swig out of his plastic cup of orange juice.

Pete gave him a look, "I was unavoidably detained."

"Yeah, right," Bezerker growled.

Rachel hung back out of his line of sight, watching the young man as she fired up her telepathic ability. She wasn't there to scan his mind fully; instead Pete wanted her to linger in the surface thoughts and try to determine if Bezerker was really telling them the truth. 'Easier said than done,' she thought in surprise, 'he's got pretty effective psionic shields.'

"So," Pete met his eyes coolly, "what where you and your friends doing at Endtech a few weeks back?"

"You already know that," Bezerker scoffed.

"Let's say I'd like to hear it from you," Pete said calmly.

Bezerker looked to the ceiling with a sigh. "I was contracted by a lady named Codex to work with her mercenaries," he said patiently, "we hit the place under the orders of somebody who called themselves the Director."

Pete gave Rachel a look, the young lady shaking her head no to indicate that he was lying. "Of Weapon X, I take it?" he went along, referring to a semi-covert US agency that was using mutant criminals as field agents.

"Yeah, for some reason or another they were interested in genetic data on computer harddrives and organic samples," Bezerker continued.

Rachel nodded slightly this time, indicating he was being truthful. "Who trained this guy,' she wondered, 'the last time I saw shields this good was when I was working with Cable.'

"To build some king of enhanced soldiers," Pete said flatly.

"Yeah," Bezerker nodded, "or maybe to upgrade his own people."

A short nod from Rachel confirming that, too.

'Damn it,' Pete thought, feeling more than a bit annoyed at seeing his worse case scenario unfolding before his very eyes. "But Sinister double crossed you," Pete chose his words carefully, "he's using your team's DNA without permission."

"Yeah, I..." Bezerker blinked, suddenly realizing he'd been tricked into confirming his true employer and yelled, "Hey!"

"It wasn't that hard to guess," Pete shrugged, "and the trail your hacker friend planted in Endtech's systems was just a bit too blatant." Silently he added, 'Not to mention we had Kate's future based information.'

"If you know so much," Bezerker asked resentfully, "why are you here?"

"There's a lot we don't know," Pete said. He studied Berzerker thoughtfully a moment, "Where is Sinister based?"

"I don't know," he admitted. Bezerker smiled wryly, "The only one in the team who got face to face with him was Codex."

Another nod from Rachel, and Pete noted she was looking a bit stressed. 'These guys probably knew they'd be facing telepaths,' he mused, 'he's got to have some decent defenses.' Looking back to Bezerker he decided to end the interview then, "The mainland police want you turned over to them, if you've got anything more to say I'd do it now."

"No," Bezerker shook his head. As Pete was moving off he asked, "You know how powerful Sinister is, are you still taking him on?"

"Someone's got to do it," was Pete's dry answer as he opened up the door for Rachel and they both headed out.

Bezerker waited a bit to make sure they were gone, then seemingly talking to himself he asked, "Did you get all that?"

"Every word." He didn't really hear Codex's voice; instead it vibrated in his bones from the transmitter and receiver hidden in the back of his mouth. "Not bad at all," she calmly commented, "Wisdom is sharper than I thought."

"That wouldn't surprise me," Bezerker quietly admitted, "he's been a British field operative for years, after all."

"I'm a bit annoyed he caught on to the faked computer data," Codex sounded irritable; '"I thought we did a good job on that."

"You're a pretty good hacker, boss, but that doesn't mean that there aren't even better ones out there," Bezerker pointed out. Changing the topic he asked her, "So what's the ETA for you guys busting me out of here?"

"Change of plans," Codex started.

"What?" Bezerker sat up in surprise.

Continuing on as if he hadn't spoken Codex said, "We're going to wait until you're taken off the island in police custody. It'll be easier than launching a frontal assault against the sort of defenses that island has."

"Tough nut to crack?" Bezerker asked.

"They've upgraded since the Brotherhood broke in," Codex agreed, "we could probably do it, but it'd cost us."

"You almost sound like you're worried about your teammates," Bezerker teased, curious to hear how she'd react.

There was a moment's pause then Codex said, "I went to a great deal of effort to form this team, it'd be a shame to waste it."

"Fair enough," Bezerker said, knowing that was the most he was going to get from her. He sat back on his bunk with a muttered, "Things were so much easier when I was just an archeologist studying the Vikings."

"Tell me about it," Codex actually chuckled. A bit more seriously, "Good luck. This is Codex, signing off."

Back in her apartment Diana Ramsey removed the communications rig, the blonde smiling to herself slightly. "Does he know we're coming after him later?" Sienna Blaze asked, the orange-blonde haired aristocrat lounging nearly naked on Diana's bed.

"Yes," the equally unclothed Diana shrugged, getting up from the desk and walking over to join the other woman on top of the bed.

"I still wish we could have sent Reaper," Sienna purred as she drew Diana into her arms, "then we could just skip the rescue mission."

"He knows how unpopular he is," Diana shrugged, "besides, he'd have sung like a canary and told them everything, not just what we want them to know."

"True," Sienna kissed her gently. Softy she asked, "Do you really think we should double-cross Mr. Sinister?"

"He's the one who betrayed us," Diana shrugged uncomfortably, "I'm just interested in making sure he doesn't get to enjoy it."

Sienna chuckled, "That's my girl."

To be continued...


	24. Chapter 23

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Twenty-two

Kate Pryde smiled to herself slightly as the helicopter came down, the wind stirring the hair of her companion. Her own silvery metallic form was largely unaffected, though she used her holographic systems to make the illusion that she was fittingly messy.

"Hope that the Weird Happenings Organization knows what it's doing, transporting him like this," Rachel murmured, her red hair falling into her eyes.

"It's a combat chopper," Kate noted, "armed and shielded. Of course if the Marauders hit it, all bets are off."

"Which is why I'm shadowing them once they leave," Britannia said, standing nearby. Lisa Garrison had her helm off, her blonde hair flowing in the breeze and dressed in the stylized union jack designed mystical costume.

"You sure you're going to be all right?" Rachel asked her, feeling a flash of concern for her teammate. Since they still didn't know each other all that well she was a bit surprised that she felt that worried, honestly.

"Widget," Lisa nodded to Kate, "rigged me up a holographic cloaking system, just for this mission. They'll never know I'm there."

"Here they go," Kate called their attention to the scene not far away. Dani Moonstar and Rahne Sinclair escorted the bound Bezerker over to the vehicle, both of them very wary as they passed him over to the government troops. He was loaded on, the door slid shut then with a almost eerie silence the copter was off.

"The pilot's nervous," Rachel softly murmured, accidentally catching a stray thought from the man at the controls.

"I'm off," Lisa pulled her helm on after giving the vehicle a chance to get some distance. Britannia smoothly rose as she added, "I'll use the radio if the Marauders hit, but Rachel, could you maintain a telepathic link as well?"

"No problem," Rachel reassured her.

Pressing a control on her wristband Britannia seemed to become almost semi transparent.. then she was simply gone, only the soft noise of her passage through the air remaining. "Don't worry too much," Kate calmly offered as they walked back into the Muir Island Research Station, "the suit's forcefields should protect her."

"I guess I just don't like the idea of one of us shadowing them all alone," Rachel conceded, using her keycard to open the door.

"I don't entirely disagree," Kate agreed, "but the cloak gets less effective with the more people it covers. Pete made the best decision he could, just sending one of us."

"I know," Rachel sighed, "but I still don't like it."

"That's one of the things I love about you," Kate murmured as she looked down at her adoringly, "your compassion."

"Kate," Rachel blushed.

The two entered the main meeting room where various team members waited, curious to see what might happen. Lisa's elven lover Llyan paced in one corner while Dani and Rahne sat at the table, drinking coffee. Jackie Crighton was by the main screen, the helicopter and Britannia represented by glowing icons as Pete smoked away, watching for trouble.

"Grr." Lockheed the dragon grumbled softly, landing on Kate's shoulder smoothly.

"Rahne, did you scent anything unusual on them?" Pete asked thoughtfully, the black haired man stubbing out a cigarette.

The redheaded werewolf shook her head. "No," Rahne said, "though my senses in my human form aren't much better than yours."

"You're worried about something with the WHO copter?" Kate asked, frowning slightly as she walked over to the table.

"Just running through the possibilities," Pete admitted, "thinking of how I'd try to pull a breakout for someone like Bezerker."

"Like replacing a member of the police?" Dani asked, her long black hair flowing down her back. The native American woman was in her team uniform, as was Rahne, the similar clothes making them look even more like a couple.

"I actually pulled that stunt a few years back," Pete said mildly, "when I had to help bust a Black Air operative out of the United States facility, the Vault."

"So what do you think they'll try?" Jackie asked, her white hair shining. She smiled, "Assuming they're as evil minded as you are."

"If they really intend to bust Bezerker out they'll have to hit the copter on the way there," Pete said as he considered the problem, "the WHO secure facility is a too tough nut to crack. The biggest question is where they'll try."

"Not over the water," Rachel said flatly, "too risky."

"So somewhere over Scotland," Rahne mused as she looked up at the map on the video screen, "or on the way over England?"

"Too bad there's no way to narrow it down much," Dani frowned, "even knowing the copter's route won't help us much."

Kate stopped, the oddest look on her face. "Rachel," she said softly, "when you said the pilot felt nervous, did you think it was unusually so?"

Rachel blinked, then her eyes visibly widened a little. "Oh hell," she muttered before asking, "you don't think...?"

"You think they got to the pilot somehow?" Pete figured it out a second later. He turned and studied the screen once again before asking, "Is the pilot following the flight plan WHO sent us?"

"No," Jackie realized as she used the keyboard to run a quick comparison, "they're veering off to the left."

"Sorry Kate, but it's days like this I wish we had a jet," Pete growled softly, glaring up at the two slowly moving blips.

Kate wasn't really offended, she understood what he meant. As a teleporter she could get the team wherever, but they couldn't do things like tail an adversary as a group. Instead they had to wait until they got somewhere before they could act.

"Britannia, do you read me?" Jackie decided to risk breaking the radio silence, picking up a headset and speaking into a microphone.

"Yes?" Britannia answered crisply.

"We believe that the Marauders may have compromised the helicopter pilot," Jackie reported their speculations grimly.

"Crap,." Britannia said softly. There was a moment of silence, "Then tailing them still makes sense, I think."

"Just be careful," Jackie cautioned softly.

"If anything does happen with the 'copter," Pete spoke up, "do not engage whoever might be attacking, just radio us your location. If this is the Marauders doing, trying to stop them on your own would be just foolish."

"Understood," Britannia answered before signing off.

Jackie seemed to disappear, then in a burst of speed returned dressed in her new team uniform. It looked much like her old Spitfire costume, with a simple gold bodysuit and bright red gloves and boots. In addition she wore a simple black jacket with red flame trim over it, an 'X' patch on the shoulder. Seeing the curious glances of her teammates she smiled, "I figure if there's any trouble, I'd better be dressed appropriately."

"Looks good," Kate gave her a thumbs up.

"M'lord," Llyan bowed to Pete, the willowy figure laying a hand on the sword she wore at her side, "if these foul brigands do attack, I wish to join the battle."

Pete reflexedly opened his mouth to protest, then closed it thoughtfully. He had run into the sidhe in battle once, and barely lived to tell the tale... more importantly, Llyan had a very personal stake in any fight. "All right," he said, "but you obey orders in the field, Llyan. I don't want a Marauder dead because he looked at Lisa wrong."

"As you wish," Llyan bowed once again.

To be continued...


	25. Chapter 24

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Twenty-three

That's when the alarms went off.

"Now what?" Pete demanded, the black haired man turning to the monitor screen. The icons for Brittania and the WHO chopper remained undisturbed, instead a emergency beacon blazed red in the heart of London, flashing away ominously.

Spitfire was accessing the board before anyone else could move, the white haired woman moving at a blur. "Superhuman conflict reported," she read, "and according to this it's some of the members of the Marauders."

"So they're NOT hitting the copter?" Kate raised a metallic eyebrow, the silver skinned woman looking curious.

"Or this is just a distraction," Rachel suggested quickly, the redhead frowning. "Is it the whole team or just...?"

"Police reports say it's Sienna Blaze and Rusty Collins," Dani Moonstar said as she stepped up to the screen, the native American continuing calmly, "I'd bet on them trying to draw us away."

"But we canna' ignore it, either," Wolfsbane murmured with a grimace, Rahne Sinclair standing close to her lover.

Pete crushed out a cigarette, eyes hard as he thought. "Rachel, you Dani and Rahne get to check it out," he said seriously, "that way we hold me, Kate, Jackie and Llyan in reserve for when the rest of the Marauders hit the copter."

"Coo!" Lockheed protested, the dragon swooping down at him.

"You too, you handbag," Pete growled at it, "stay here."

Kate rose up into the air, her metallic body glowing then in a burst of rainbow light opened up a teleport gate. "Be careful, love," she said to Rachel softly.

"Always," Rachel gave her a grin as she stepped through with Rahne and Dani.

The sounds of sirens wailed as the three figures materialized on the road, cobblestones broken beneath their feet as fires raged in the background. The buildings were battered, a few shops wrecked and all around them panicked crowds raced along wildly.

Dani took charge almost immediately, the black haired woman's voice determined, "Marvel Girl, scan for Blaze and Thermal, Rahne..."

"Right," Rahne nodded. Wolfsbane shifted from reddish haired girl to red-brown furred wolf, nose sniffing the ground. 'No trace of their scents, but there's something else here,' her voice echoed in Dani's mind through the special mental link they shared.

Dani knew that tone of voice meant trouble. 'What?' she asked.

'I recognize the scents of Scalphunter and Harpoon,' Rahne's mental voice was grim, 'from the original Marauders.'

"Oh shit," Dani muttered aloud.

"Got 'em!" Marvel girl pointed west as she added, "They're badly panicked, I don't think they're faking that."

"Let's go," Dani ordered and the three raced through the rubble even as she quickly reviewed what she knew about their foes.

Scalphunter was, like her, of Native American descent but that was where the similarity ended. A semi-professional killer he had been a friend of Gambit's before being recruited by Mr. Sinister, who provided him with physical enhancement and a remarkable modular weapons system. Using various components attached to his uniform he could assemble weapons for a variety of targets, from human to super human.

Harpoon was a Inuit fisherman before Sinister got a hold of him, tinkering with his DNA. Using his namesake he had the deadly ability to convert matter into energy, throwing harpoons of deadly energy against his enemies. In the X-Men's first battle with the team he had nearly killed Rogue and had trapped Kitty in her phased state for months.

'The problem is,' Dani thought, 'they've both been reported dead.'

Of course that didn't mean much when dealing with a geneticist and expert on cloning like Sinister. In a raid on a New York lab of Sinister's Gambit and Beast had fought against a Sabertooth clone, one still wet from the cloning tanks. It seemed that the Marauders had achieved a kind of serial immortality, new clones being released each time the last ones died.

They came around a corner then all three jerked in surprise before leaping into action. Thermal and Blaze were back to back as a group of black clad figures tried to attack them, full face masks and armor sealing the troops bodies away. Thermal threw waves of flame to drive them back but they seemed unaffected, even as Blaze casted energy bolts.

"Damn it," Blaze yelled, the blonde looking clearly frustrated, "these things aren't human!"

"Keep going," Thermal yelled, his reddish hair falling into his eyes as the pyrotechnic ignited a foe ahead of him.

"Where are..." Rahne asked as she shifted to her half human, half wolf form.

"There!" Rachel pointed up to a rooftop where Scalphunter and Harpoon watched all the goings on coldly.

Dani assessed the situation quickly then made up her mind. "Wolfsbane, try to help them," she nodded towards the desperately fighting pair then looked to Rachel, "Marvel Girl and I'll take Harpoon and Scalphunter."

"Be careful," Rahne said to Dani softly then raced forward, her claws raking across the back of one of the faceless goons.

"Got a plan?" Rachel asked as they ran forward.

Dani drew her bow and fired, a psionic arrow soaring unerringly into Scalphunter. He screamed, clutching his head as it reverberated in him, sending him to his knees. "Get us up there and we'll improvise," she answered.

"As always," Rachel gabbed Dani telekinetically and they soared up to the roof as Harpoon threw. As soon as the spear left his hands it flared to life, a bolt of energy whizzing across to Rachel before splashing on her shields.

"Damn," Harpoon muttered before raising his wristband to his lips. "Sir, we have X-Men ion scene, please advise."

"Shit," Rachel cursed, trying to grab him telekinetically but to her shock her grip slid off. Some kind of protective shield kept her power at bay, and even more shockingly his mind was like a blank wall to her.

"You failed to eliminate Codex's operatives," the voice was cold, purely emotionless, "you know the cost of failure."

"Sir, you don't need to..." Harpoon sounded frightened.

BOOM!

"What the hell," Dani breathed out in surprise from where she had reflexedly ducked behind Rachel's telekinetic shield.

Only a crater remained where the two villains had stood, smoke curling up from broken concrete and stone. No tatters of uniform or anything else was there, the force of the explosion had literally wiped them from the face of the Earth.

"Moonstar!" they heard Rahne call and both young ladies quickly joined her on the street.

The faceless minions seemed to be dissolving within their uniforms, the black cloth and armor sagging as whatever was within them turned to slime. "I'll be damned," Rachel nudged the empty costume then looked up warily at Thermal and Blaze.

"That was closer than I'd like," Thermal sighed, running a hand through his hair. He gave Wolfsbane a faint smile, "Thanks for the help, by the way."

"I'd ha' done it for anyone," Rahne said a bit coldly. Once upon a time they had been teammates in the New Mutants, and it was clear she was unhappy with his changing sides.

"A falling out among thieves?" Dani asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Blaze said to them crossly, "it looks like Sinister has decided to eliminate anyone that connects him to the raid here. I think he's decided to kill us new Marauders with the original versions."

Rachel gave her a skeptical look but said, "I'll pass that on telepathically to Wisdom."

"Come on," Thermal nodded to Blaze and they moved off.

Dani summoned another psionic arrow as she said, "Hold it right there."

Thermal didn't turn to her as he said, "I've got teammates in trouble, they may even be killed by Sinister's creations. I'm not sticking around." With a gesture he flung a burst of flame at them, using the distraction to get himself and Blaze away.

"I can follow," Marvel Girl offered, rising off the ground telekinetically.

"Let 'em go," Dani stopped her. She smiled grimly, "I may not like it, but I can respect why they need to go."

To be continued...


	26. Chapter 25

X-Men: The Excalibur Alternative Part Twenty-four

"Huh," Pete Wisdom tossed his cigarette in the garbage as he heard Rachel's telepathic report, "couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of folks." The black haired man smiled slightly, "Kate'll be bringing you home in a jiff."

Jackie Crighton smiled wryly, the red and gold Spitfire watching as Kate opened a teleport gate. "Britannia and the copter are still on the same course," the blonde noted as they waited.

"Knock on wood," Pete muttered as the other half of the team reappeared in the waves of rainbow light.

"Are you all right?" Kate asked softly, the silver skinned woman taking Rachel Summers into her arms.

Rachel smiled up at her girlfriend, her red hair falling into her eyes. "I'm fine, love," she reassured her gently.

Dani and Rahne leaned on each other, Dani limping slightly as they headed to a chair. "I'm all right," she said quickly to Pete's concerned look, "just took a stupid fall."

"Pete, there's something odd going on out here," Britannia's voice came through over the communications system.

"What's going on?" Kate asked quickly.

"The helicopter with Bezerker has started to slow... it looks like they're planning to land out here in the middle of nowhere," Britannia explained.

"Somebody was on the helicopter then," Jackie muttered.

"Find some good cover and keep an eye on them," Pete ordered briskly, "we'll be out to join you soon."

"Got it," and Britannia cut off.

"What's the plan?" Dani asked promptly.

"You, Rahne and that flying handbag," Pete nodded to Lockheed, "stay here, the rest of us will go back up Britannia."

"Rrrrr," Lockheed glared at him.

"But..." Rahne started.

Dani put a hand on her lover's arm. "Pete's covering his bases," she said, "just in case the Marauders or Sinister's forces hit here."

"Pretty much," Pete nodded then looked up at Kate, "let's go."

Kate Pryde's body rose as light welled up within her, spilling forth in rainbow circles that formed into a shining gateway. One by one they leapt through until finally Kate herself went in, the portal winking out after her.

They reappeared on a windswept plain in England, low shrub and stones scattered around. Almost as soon as they hit the ground Llyan raced to where her lover crouched behind some boulders, kneeling down beside Britannia as she asked, "Are you all right?"

Britannia smiled back at her reassuringly as the black, red and blue clad heroine said softly, "I'm fine m'love."

Pete looked out into the distance where the helicopter waited, rotors still as the wind swept by. "Any movement?" he asked tersely.

"Dead quiet," Britannia answered, "which has been pretty eerie."

"I could try a telepathic scan," Marvel Girl offered. The redheaded telepath frowned slightly, "Though I have to admit I'm getting a odd kind of telepathic static."

"Give it a try," Pete asked.

Marvel Girl focused her concentration, a faint glow appearing around her then her eyes popped open in surprise. "I'm not picking up thoughts from the copter."

"How...?" Kate blinked.

"No point hiding," Pete stood up from behind their protective cover and strode forward, "let's check it out."

In a flash of red and gold Jackie was off, Spitfire racing towards the copter before anyone could stop her. She opened the door to look inside, stopped, then raced back to their side as she muttered, "Bloody hell."

"What?" Britannia asked as the rest of them reached the copter.

"A hole?" Marvel Girl blinked.

In the back where, at one point, the Marauder called Bezerker had been sitting there was a hole in the seat, the undercarriage of the copter and down into the darkness of the earth. Reaching out Kate felt that the edges were cool and perfectly smooth, almost as if it had been polished and buffed. The pilot still sat up front, looking straight ahead blankly, his body stiff as a board. There were no sign of the guards, just the faint smell of plants in the air.

"He's alive," Jackie nervously checked the pilot's pulse, "though damned it I know what's wrong with him."

"Probably a poison," Pete muttered, distractedly looking at the hole. "Anyone want to make a guess?" Pete finally asked everyone.

"The guards were changelings," Llyan said promptly, "false people crafted by some dark magik. They brought the warrior here so that he could be taken, though why I do not know."

"Actually I think I agree," Marvel Girl admitted after a moment. She smiled grimly, "If Sinister is targeting the Marauders for some reason, this could be connected."

"Good for Sinister," Britannia said dryly, "if he's taking out the Marauders the country's probably better off."

"Maybe," Pete admitted, "but the Marauders might help us get Sinister, too."

"You want to go down there?" Kate nodded to the hole.

"I suppose it's wide enough for one or two at a time..." Marvel Girl said a bit dubiously as she tried to estimate it by eye.

"Only way we'll know," Pete shrugged.

"Me first," Britannia said firmly.

"But m'love..." Llyan started.

"If there is something nasty down there," Britannia looked at Pete and her lover, "I'm best equipped to handle it."

Pete nodded, "Okay, point." He looked at the hole, "You in first, then Llyan, me, Jackie, Marvel girl and Widget takes up the rear."

"To be ready to pull everyone out in case whatever is down there is tougher than we think," Kate got it in seconds.

"Exactly," Pete nodded then looked to Britannia, "Ready?"

Britannia put her hand on the edge and vaulted into the hole as she smiled, "Go!" In a second Llyan was following her, then one by one the team members jumped in, sliding down the slightly curved tunnel easily.

"Oof!" Pete yelped as he hit the floor with his tailbone, grimacing. With a sigh he got up, "I thought I was done with that..."

"Not my fault," Kate said as they looked around, the massive chamber stretching out around them. There was a musty smell, like rotting almonds, and lights flickered off an on off in the distance.

"This place is heavily telepathically shielded," Marvel Girl said as Kate helped her up, "I can barely pick up our group's thoughts, much less beyond this."

"Should I do a high speed recon?" Spitfire asked softly.

"Let's stick together," Pete shook his head, "we have no idea what we're facing here."

"Let's find out," Britannia said calmly and the group headed off down the hall.

To be continued...


	27. Chapter 27

Excalibur Alternative

Dani Moonstar sighed as she leaned on the control panel, watching the icon representing where the 'copter waited. Pushing her black hair back she sighed, "I wish we knew what was going on out there."

Rahne nodded glumly, the redhead standing beside her. "We canna use the radios, we might let a enemy know they're there," she agreed.

"And Rachel hasn't contacted us telepathically either," Dani scowled.

"Grr," Lockheed growled low in his throat, the little dragon pacing restlessly on the large meeting table.

"I guess we're just stuck with waiting," Rahne sighed, "however long it takes."

A soft clearing of a throat signaled Cecelia's entrance, the dusky skinned doctor looking around in annoyance. "Where is everyone?" she demanded.

"Sit yourself down," Dani said, "it's a long story."

Meanwhile, the remainder of Excalibur cautiously made their way down the underground tunnel. A small flashlight along with light radiating from Widget gave them dome idea of their surroundings, but not too much.

"Do you want me to scout ahead?" Spitfire asked again, the white haired young woman's voice strong and eager.

"Hell no," Pete Wisdom answered promptly as they walked along the cavern, his eyes searching into the darkness, "Marvel Girl's telepathy is being blocked by something down here, and there's no way we'd know if something goes wrong."

"Right," Jackie sighed, Spitfire pushing her white hair back.

"Sorry Pete," Marvel Girl winced, Rachel Summer's short red hair falling into her eyes.

"Are you all right, love?" Kate Pryde asked softly, the silver skinned woman called Widget looking at her in alarm.

"Just a headache from trying to break through the psionic shields here," Rachel admitted, "they've very tough."

"I wonder why Sinister would have a base out here in the middle of nowhere for?" Britannia asked quietly. Lisa Garrison moved at point with the wary confidence of a long time agent, the blonde studying the shadows almost as warily as Pete.

"You'd be surprised where he has bases," Pete said with a shrug, "I understand he even had a base beneath New York's Times Square."

"I can see something up ahead," Llyan said quietly, the elfen woman's eyes piercing the gloom better than a human's would.

Slowing a bit they moved forward, the darkness slowly being lit up by a almost unearthly glow up ahead in the tunnel. Cautiously they moved up until they reached the edge of the tunnel and a larger chamber then peered inside before freezing in surprise.

"Bloody Hell," Jackie cured softly in surprise.

"Yup, I'd say this confirms it's a Sinister operation," Pete said dryly, blinking as he tried to take all of it in.

The chamber pulsed with an eerie green light, long containers of matching fluid strung up throughout the massive hall. Within human figures floated mindlessly, clones waiting to be awakened on order. In the middle of the machinery, control panels and monitors were working constantly as four figures stood to one side. Two of them held a third figure by the arms, the final one looking on curiously.

"Can we get closer? I can't hear what they're saying," Rachel said with a scowl.

"Your wish is my command," Kate gave her a smile as she extended a hand cautiously around the corner, the metal shifting into a small high powered microphone. Her other hand shifted to form a speaker, familiar voices coming from it.

"You've led me a merry chase, Mr. Bjornson," Mr. Sinister said coldly, his red eyes glowing from a pure white face, the gem on his brow shining evilly.

"Let me go, you..." Steve snarled back, struggling in the arms of the beings who held him.

"That would be foolish," Sinister answered flatly. He reached out to touch the hammer insignia once again, "Now, tell me what you know about the Asgardians."

"Didn't the Endtech data have it?" Steve actually looked amused.

Sinister reached out swiftly to grab his throat. "Do not trifle with me, boy," he hissed, squeezing with superhuman force.

"Do.. It," Steve hissed out defiantly.

Sinister cast him aside, visibly gaining control of his temper. "I have access to almost all superhuman data," he said grimly, "but the Asgardian has always escaped my grasp. That was what I wanted from Endtech.. and you."

"You've got to be kidding me... you seriously want to clone Thor!" Steve looked up at him in pure disbelief.

"The Asgardians are flesh and blood," Sinister replied, "and so I know it can be done. I just need a sample."

"And as Bezerker I'm Asgardian enough to serve," Steve realized.

"Correct," Sinister nodded. A cold smile, "So will it be a live sample, or cells taken from your corpse?"

Everyone exchanged glances once they heard that. "Pete, we can't let him," Kate started urgently.

"Let's go," Pete agreed crisply.

Just as Spitfire raced from cover... a explosion rattled the entire cavern, throwing everyone off balance. "Now what?" Britannia growled, looking around them wildly even as some of Sinister's creatures hurried towards them.

BOOM!

The wall to the far side of the cavern exploded inward as several figures emerged from the spreading dust cloud. "We're here for our teammate," Codex said calmly, the blonde in a simple jumpsuit leading her comrades in.

"More foes?" Llyan asked, sword held at the ready.

"Maybe, maybe not," Pete said, watching the situation unfold.

"So," Sinister said with an air of supreme confidence, "you betray me, too?"

"I'd say the betrayal is on your end," Sienna Blaize said from where she stood beside Codex, "when you cloned us without permission."

Sinister looked amused, "It was allowed in the agreements you signed with me."

"Targets acquired," Freelance reported in her mechanical tones as the armored woman took aim, "firing." The first blasts of her long gun took out the two creatures holding Bezerker, then one splashed right into Sinister's body. Surprisingly it barely staggered him.

Above them cloning chambers exploded open on some silent signal, various copies of beings who had served Sinister in the past draining down to attack like human guard dogs. Reaper, Thermal, Skids and Shades worked to hold them off, even as Bezerker raced back to their side against the horde.

"Pete?" Kate asked with some urgency.

"Get to a computer, try to erase any of the data they got from Endtech," Pete ordered then turned to the others, "looks like we're backing up the Marauders."

To be continued...


	28. Chapter 28

Excalibur Alternative

Codex's expression was serious as the clones burst free from Sinister's holding chambers, her mind racing as it considered alternatives. "Blaze," the brown haired woman said as her team of new Marauders began to kill clones of the old squad, "get ready, help will be arriving shortly."

"Are you insane?" Siena Blaze asked as the butchy looking blonde threw a energy bolt into a copy of Sabertooth, toasting him before he could gut Shades.

"I've got a plan," Codex grinned as she tossed a grenade and blew up a copy of the light wielding villain Prysm.

BOOM!

The first wave of hot-knives slashed through attacking clones as Excalibur burst from cover, the team racing forward to attack the forces of Sinister from the other side. Spitfire lead the charge, the gold garbed super-speedster trailing flame as she hammered foes with rapid fire punches. Britannia was nearly as fast as the super strong woman rammed into sinister's army like a freight train. Beside her a elfen women swung her sword with lethal intent, her eyes gleaming dangerously. Marvel Girl soared in on telekinetics, psionically tearing foes apart as Widget slipped away, heading to a intact computer bank.

"You knew," Blaze blinked.

"I love it when a plan comes together," Codex said as she kicked another Scalphunter clone in the head.

"All right everyone," Pete dodged a strike from Harpoon as he ordered, "I want scorched earth! We're destroying the whole facility!"

"Just what I wanted to hear," Britannia said. The red, white and black clad heroine ripped up a bank of equipment and pitched it at a confused band of clones, squishing them wetly.

"Watch yourself, m'love," Llyan swung her sword to decapitate a clone trying to slip by their guard.

Grabbing shards of glass and metal Marvel girl ripped into dozens of copies, but the creatures kept coming. "Sinister's been a busy little beaver," Rachel muttered.

Widget put her hand against one of the wall mounted panels, her silvery metal skin shifting as tendrils of material flowed into it. The expression on her face went remote as she interfaced with the systems of the lab, sending commands to find data and delete it all.

"Look out," Skids extended her force field, the blonde Marauder blocking several throwing blades before they could reach Spitfire.

"This doesn't make up for sucker punching me earlier," Spitfire informed her then she smiled, "but thanks."

"No problem," Skids blocked another wave of Riptide's throwing blades.

A wave of flame incinerated the Riptide clone, in the process slahging several other copies. "You alright?" Thermal asked, Rusty Collins hands blazing with his psychic fire.

"Thanks love," Skids grinned, skating on her force field over to his side.

Fighting hard Pete forced himself over to Codex's side, the black haired man smiling grimly. "Fancy seeing you here," he said as he used his hot-knives to blast another copy of Sabertooth to ashes.

Not even trying to deny the implication Codex said, "Yes, I gambled on your team being here, too."

"This was all a plot against Mr Sinister?" Pete asked as he punched Arclight in the head, stunning her.

"No, not until I realized he had betrayed us, too," Codex shrugged, "it was why I let Bezerker get captured by you."

"Figures," Pete kicked Arclight to make sure she was down.

'Pete,' Rachel's voice echoed in his mind, 'Kate's done. The genetic data they stole has all been destroyed.'

'Good,' Pete grinned. 'Sinister!" he yelled.

"Damn you," Sinister hissed, the white faced villain quickly sweeping the battle field with his eyes. His central lab was quickly becoming a shambles as Marauder and X-Men thrashed the place, cloning tanks and equipment exploding violently.

"Save it," Pete said firmly as their teams battled fiercely, "your data's been whipped, and we're taking Bezerker in. You want to surrender?"

"This isn't over," a surprising voice echoed through the facility, that of a woman.

"Wait, I..." Sinister started to say, his expression oddly panicked.

THOOM!

Sinister disappeared, an odd red/purple energy distortion whisking him away even as the facility shook around them, the walls cracking. The surviving sections of the lab began to collapse, the stones hanging from the ceiling crashing down.

"Oh hell," Pete scowled, "everyone, back to the tunnel!"

"What about the Marauders?" Kate yelled as they raced out of the facility.

"They can take care of themselves," Pete answered firmly. In fact he was almost certain that Codex had one or more plans ready to get her team out... it was just the sort of woman she seemed to be.

"I can't gate us out," Widget called apologetically as they ran, "too much interference from the machinery here."

"Then we do it the hard way," Marvel Girl said as they reached the shaft up to the helicopter. "Alley opp," she grabbed Spitfire and sent her flying up the shaft as the woman squealed in shock.

Britannia grabbed Llyan and they soared up even as Pete was tossed up, too. "Get going," Pete yelled as he disappeared.

"Coming," Marvel Girl grinned as she soared up after them.

As the ground rumbled and collapsed there was a detonating sound, then silence. "Well," Pete lit a smoke, "two out of three ain't bad."

"Oh?" Spitfire asked.

"We stopped Sinister and took away the data," Pete said with a frown, "only the new Marauders got away."

"So why do you look so grim?" Spitfire asked.

"Yeah, why?" Kate asked, Widget's silvery skin gleaming as she held Rachel close.

"When Sinister was teleported away he almost looked scared," Pete said, "like he was scared of whoever rescued him." A pause, "And anybody who scares a piece of work like Sinister worries me."

"Maybe," Rachel said firmly, "but that's a problem for another day."

Pete nodded, "True enough. All right everybody, grab the copter pilot and let's go home."

End.

Notes: A Epilogue chapter is coming. Author's notes will be included there.


	29. Chapter 29

**Epilogue the First**

Muir isle was a beautiful place, even in the pouring rain. The Excalibur team had returned from Sinister's lab via Widget's teleportational gate, and now a celebration was underway for his at least temporary defeat.

"I still wish we had gone," Rahne Sinclair sighed, the little redhead curled up against her lover's side on the couch.

Dani Moonstar reached down to stroke Rahne's hair gently. "Don't worry," she reassured her, "next time there's a big fight, I'm insisting we go along."

"It wasn't all that fun," Rachel Summers protested, sitting across from them with Widget. The redhead took a sip of her drink, "Fighting that army of cloned Marauders was actually pretty scary at times."

Widget smiled slightly, Kate Pryde's metal skin looking more human than usual in the firelight. "Though it was very satisfying to get some payback, considering all the crap Sinister has pulled," she said.

Cecelia Reyes smiled as the African American doctor looked around the living room, "Is Jackie around?"

"I think she went after Pete," Rahne quietly offered, "she left just after Llyan and Lisa went to bed early."

"Though probably not to sleep," Dani chuckled.

"Whrf," Lougheed looked up, the grey skinned mini-dragon complaining at the noise.

"Then I'll go see if I can find then," Cecelia smiled, "if you see her first, tell Jackie I think her condition is stabilizing. She shouldn't have the flame bursts any more."

The communication room was mostly dark, lit up by only the computer screen as Pete Wisdom looked at the images, a glass of whisky by the black haired man's side. "Am I interrupting?" Jackie Farnsworth asked, the white haired woman dressed in a comfortable skirt and sweatshirt.

"Hi," Pete straightened up a bit, his usual black business suit a bit wrinkled.

"Still brooding over Sinister's disappearance?" Jackie asked.

"Not exactly," Pete gestured to the screen, "see, I think I figured out where I recognized that teleport signature from."

"Her?" Jackie looked at the image on the screen.

"Think so," Pete agreed, "though I'll need to try and find Nate Grey to confirm it."

"And if it is her?" Jackie asked, looking at the redhead on the view screen with the power data and biographical details beside her.

"If Madelyne Pryor is back," Pete said quietly, "the X-Men are in for a rough time of it."

Jackie leaned forward, then surprisingly wrapped her arms around it. "I'm sure you'll do everything you can," she murmured.

"Ah, Jackie...?" Pete blinked.

"You can be a remarkably dense man, you know that?" Jackie smiled slightly then she kissed him lingeringly.

"I bet you tell that to all the guys," Pete smiled wryly as she pulled back.

"I think it's part of your charm," Jackie chuckled as she kissed him again.

**Epilogue the Second**

The ground rumbled, then erupted outward in a flash of power as the group emerged from the depths. Siena Blaze staggered a bit as they reached the surface then the blonde dropped to her knees, "Damn I'm tired."

"Good job," Codex smiled as the rest of them quickly fled out of the tunnel Blaze had cut through rock with her electromagnetic powers. "Everyone all right?" she called.

"Thanks to Skids," Shades smiled, the black haired woman looking around them warily.

Skids smiled tiredly, the force field user leaning on her boyfriend Rusty. "No problem," she sighed.

"Freelance," Codex asked, "any sign of Excalibur?"

"Scanning," the armored woman said in her usual dead tone of voice. "Picking up teleport residues three miles east," she reported after a moment, "they appear to be gone."

"Good," Reaper nodded, the pale skinned man smiling grimly, "we're in no shape for that kind of fight."

"I think Wisdom might have just let us go," Codex shrugged as she added, "but I'm glad we don't have to risk it."

"So," Bezerker asked as he tiredly staggered over to sit on a rock, "what are we going to do now that we're not working for Sinister?"

"I have no intention of going anywhere," Sienna took Codex's hand.

"Oh great, here go the lovebirds," Reaper groused.

Shades promptly smacked him on the back of the head, "It's romantic, damn it." Looking over at Codex she added, "I think we should stick together. No reason we have to keep calling ourselves Marauders though."

"Everyone?" Codex looked around only to be met with nods. "Good," she said, "and our ride should be here soon."

"Ride?" Skids blinked. Off in the distance but growing louder they heard the sound of a jet engine, then it came over a rise, the mini-jet the group had used on a earlier mission.

"Do you always have to be so prepared?" Rusty asked wryly as they walked up.

"Yup," Codex smirked.

**Epilogue the Third**

"This isn't over," the woman's voice echoed through the facility as Sinister visibly stiffened in surprise and a bit of fear.

"Wait, I..." Sinister started to say.

THOOM!

Sinister disappeared, an odd red/purple energy distortion whisking him even as the self-destruct systems in the lab activated. He wouldn't see the collapse of years of his work, the destruction of priceless genetic samples, instead he found himself in another base, this one very different in design.

Instead of a dark, hidden lair it most resembled a castle, with high ceilings and polished floors, beautiful wall hangings and subtle colors on the walls. The hallway Sinister arrived in led to a larger chamber where a holographic representation of the world hung, red marks noting certain locations.

"You shouldn't have gotten greedy, Sinister," the redhead said, her green body armor gleaming in the lights. Outside the window the icy wastes of Antarctica stretched out, but the technology of the floating castle kept them comfortable and warm.

"I am sorry, Madelyne," Sinister started only to choke, invisible fingers grasping him crushingly by the throat.

"What did I say about you calling me that?" Madelyne Pryor said, her green eyes flashing with anger.

"Genesis..." Sinister choked out, "I meant Genesis!"

Madelyne released him, turning back to the globe. "How bad are our losses?" she asked him calmly, almost as if she hadn't been angry at all.

"Total," Sinister admitted, "lad, samples, clones and data."

"Not quite," Madelyne answered, "I had a hotlink running into the base and have tactical data on Wisdom and Codex's teams."

"Know your enemy," Sinister nodded. "What next, m'lady?"

"I think it may be time to let some old friends know I'm back," Madelyne purred, manipulating the globe to zoom in on one area: Upstate New York, home to Xavier's School of Higher Learning.

To be continued... in X-Men, the Genesis Chronicle.

Notes: Yes, I'm doing a sequel. :) With the return of the comics Excalibur (lead by Pete Wisdom, can I call 'em or what?) I thought it might be time to start something new. I do have plans for other characters in this series, so keep your eyes open. A big shout out goes to Strife, whom gave me some of the ideas that lead to the new story.


End file.
